Et Mutaverunt
by AppleCiderr
Summary: Varona managed to shoot Izaya during the final fight between him and Shizuo. Izaya manages to survive due to a stroke of luck, but isn't lucky enough to not still be shot in the head. Believed to be dead, and far from Ikebukuro, Izaya awakens, but he is not the same person he once was..
1. Chapter 1

Izaya couldn't believe it was going to end like this. Everything had been going according to plan, until that damn girl showed up. Now, surrounded by witnesses and Slasher victims, with two broken arms, a knife in his stomach, and a gun on his head. This wasn't how everything was supposed to go, Izaya had it planned perfectly. If anything were to go wrong, Shizuo was supposed to be the one to kill him, even if it was a disgrace to be killed by the monster. But being killed by the Russian girl was even worse, this wasn't how things were supposed to go.

He looked up at her, staring defiantly. Even if this wasn't the way he wanted to die, he wasn't going to show any fear. He wasn't scared. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing him break. A facade to the end. Locking eyes with her, he saw the look in her eyes. "Do it," He said firmly,"You monster" Varona didn't seemed scared or shocked at his words. The reason why, was because she already knew his words were the truth. She was a monster, she didn't need to have some slimy informant tell her what she already knew. However, despite what Izaya claimed, Shizuo was not a monster, and she was not going to let him turn into one.

There was no hesitance, she moved to pull the trigger, Izaya deserved this, so of course she wouldn't hesitate. Then, a sudden white light enveloped them all, with a loud bang accompanying it. It was so loud, that Varona didn't even realize she still had pulled the trigger until afterward. Izaya now had a hole in his head, his eyes wide open, and his body flopped to the floor. She did it, he was dead, she killed him. At the same time, the others had started to force their way out of Russian Sushi, and she and Shizuo joined them in fighting the Slasher's victims.

In their haste to stop anyone else from getting slashed, they did not notice Kine and Manami moving toward the informants body. Kine had sighed, lifting up Izaya's bloody body. "That was not how I expected that fight to go.." Manami said softly, she felt kind of relieved that Izaya was dead, but her mind felt empty now, what purpose did she have now? Kine frowned, he had a feeling.. It wasn't a big one, but being a detective, he was usually right about his hunches.

He reached forward, moving his left hand to Izaya's wrist and the other to his neck, feeling for a pulse. There was one, but it was faint. "Izaya isn't dead," He said softly. There was noise around him, and he looked up in shock, as there was black shadows everywhere, surrounding and trapping everyone around them, wounds being surrounded by the black stuff. "The headless rider?" Manami questioned. Kine nodded, seeing black smoke coming from Izaya's knife wound, and his head. He maneuvered the somehow living body, so that he could pick him up bridal style.

"What are you doing?" Manami asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable at how limp and lifeless the informant's body was. "I'm taking him to a hospital," Kine told her firmly,"I owe him that much" Manami scoffed, but followed his quickened pace. "I say just let him die, not only would you be doing the world a favor, but he doesn't have much of a chance surviving a head wound like that anyways.." Kine looked at her, after laying Izaya down in the back of the car, and firmly replied,"We have to try"

They took off, driving to the hospital nearest to the edge of the city, with the headless rider's magic stopping the bleeding, they could get somewhere safer. Despite all the things he had done, Kine hoped that Izaya would somehow survive this..

Meanwhile, life returned for the city of Ikebukuro. Varona left, Shizuo and Tom went back to what they did best. Namie started working for Shinra's father, after Celty had delivered the head to them. Celty and Shinra were now able to spend time together as a couple, and Shinra was even more thankful for her company.

Mikado awoke in the hospital, surrounded by his friends, and was instantly caught up on the news. "Orihara-san is dead?" He asked in shock. Kida chuckled and nodded, saying,"Yeah! Good riddance I say! Shizuo beat the shit out of him and then Varaona shot him in the head, all while we were up on that roof" Anri didn't say anything to Kida's loud declaration, other than nodding in agreement.

"Ah, I bet Simon didn't enjoy that though.." He said softly,"Even if it was Izaya, Simon never liked violence.." He didn't either, with all the chaos in the city, Mikado hadn't wanted this to happen to anyone, even a sadistic person such as Izaya shouldn't have died, especially in all the chaos that had happened.. Whenever that fight was, he had been out for a while.

Anri shook her head to his question. "No.. Simon-san was devastated, he saw Izaya's body.. He had a very firm argument with Heiwajima-san and Varona-chan before she left.. But Orihara-kun kind of deserved what he got.."

Kida was busy digging into the chocolates that Erika had left for Mikado, as he said,"Karma" Before stuffing his face once more. Mikado frowned, before shyly saying,"It was _still_ a human life.." Kida scoffed and said,"A human life that knew exactly what he was doing when he started that fight with Shizuo-san, it's his fault" Mikado supposed he couldn't argue with that.. At least for now. He smiled and said,"Well, I guess that's true, maybe we can all go get sushi together once I'm released"

The blonde teen scoffed and said,"Idiot, we could go get some now if you weren't so impulsive" He started to go on a long and boisterous speech of how he would have been able to taken the man, despite the fact he wasn't in good shape either. Mikado chuckled, glad to see his friend's usual behavior, and while pretending to listen to his friend's speech, he opened his phone.

On the dollar's website, he wrote a short but sweet little message. **Rest in Peace Orihara Izaya,** **may the next life be more merciful than you were.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**This story has been long in the making, I'm sorry it took so long to post ;-; I really had to do a lot of research on comas to get this to work, and then I lost all my stories when my computer broke down, and agh! But it's fine now! I hope this was worth the wait!**_

 _ **Enjoy~!**_

– – – – – –

Kine stared at his watch, then at the clock in the waiting room, and sighed. Manami was sitting in the seat next to him, eyes glued firmly to her phone as she waited with him. For what, some may ask? Well, for the diagnosis on Izaya. The male in question had been in surgery for a while, and Kine was wondering if Izaya could survive something like that. Kine knew that Izaya called himself a god, but the raven could die just like everyone else. But with an injury like that, a shot to the head? Kine wondered if he was simply waiting for a dead man at this point.

But, he was a detective, so he knew doing a little research before panicking. Since they had been in the waiting room for hours at this point, he'd had more than enough time to read up on surviving gunshot wounds. Apparently, the usual cause of death from those was the blood loss or shock, and of course where it hit. Kine wasn't really worried about where it hit, considering Izaya was still breathing when they got here, but what about shock or blood loss? He had no way to calculate those.. All he could do now is wait.

It took forever, but a doctor finally walked out. "Kine and Manami?" He called, causing the two in question exchanged a look before standing up and walking over. There were more papers on the clipboard than Kine saw when they first walked in, he wondered whether that was good or bad.

"How is he, doctor?" The detective asked curiously. Truthfully, Kine didn't care that much if Izaya lived or died, though he would prefer if Izaya lived. Just because, after such a wound, and managing to make it through and keep breathing, surely that meant the universe was granting a second chance? Or maybe life was just that cruel.

The doctor's eyebrows furrowing together and the frown on his face didn't help Kine in the slightest. Though, after a moment, the doctor finally spoke. "He made it through surgery," The doctor said simply. There was something unspoken there.

"But?" Manami asked, hearing the doctor's strange pause as well.

"But.. He isn't doing very well" The doctor began,"He's in a coma, with no signs of waking up other than the little brain activity he has. We managed to dig the bullet out without causing damage, but along the way we found pieces of bone inside his head, and some managed to cut into the nerves of his right eye, effectively blinding him in that eye. His arms are still in need of fixing, but we are worried that he may be left with nerve damage and chronic pain because of how horrible the breaks were.."

"His brain though.. It's what we're very worried about. IF he even wakes up, we are unsure of how he'll act, because of the parts of his brain that were hit. He could lose mobility of speech, movement, among other things. Most people whom have terrible head injuries sometimes go through a partial or even full personality change, but that's the least of our worries.." The doctor finished,"Every brain is different, so we are unsure of any other complications that may happen when he wakes up.. If he wakes up.."

Whoa, it was bad. Worse than Kine expected.

The doctor flipped a few pages of his clipboard, and then said,"You are listed as his emergency contact, so you control his life at the moment. If you want us to take him off of life support, we will, though as there is still a small chance he will wake up, I would prefer if you didn't"

"Don't worry, I won't," Kine simply said. Of course he wouldn't, not when they'd gone out of their way to bring Izaya out here to save his life, even though he was as good as dead at that point anyways, he was not going to just give up now.

The doctor smiled softly and nodded, before softly saying,"You can go see him if you want" Instantly, Manami sat down and sent a look at Kine. Obviously, she wasn't going to go see Izaya, there was really no reason for her to. Kine, however, was going. He didn't care that Izaya was in a coma, there was still hope he would wake up, and Kine wasn't going to save him just to walk out of the hospital without saying anything.

He followed the doctor to Izaya's room in ICU, wincing as he saw Izaya's state. His head was bandaged, but bloody, and it looked like the doctors had shaved his head to be able to find the bullet better. His right eye had an eyepatch over it, and there were heavy casts on both his arms. Several cuts on his face and the parts of his chest Kine could see were also stitched, he bet that the stab on his lower stomach was even worse. He was attached to a heart monitor, there were several wires going down the inside of his hospital gown, and two different bags, one with blood and a drip.

"I'll give you a moment with him, I'll just be right outside in case anything happens," The sentimental doctor said, before leaving the room and sliding the door closed.

Kine knew that he should say something, mainly because he had read that talking to people in comas sometimes helped them. But.. He didn't really know what he could talk about. He didn't know Izaya very well, didn't know what he liked or disliked, anything. But, it seemed the universe had granted Izaya a second chance, so Kine should at least try his best.

Placing his hand on the railing of the hospital bed, he took a deep breath, and began,"Hey.. Um.. Izaya. It's good to see you survived, kinda.."

There was no response, of course, and Kine shuffled his feet awkwardly. What were you supposed to talk about with a comatose person?

"I don't know why you survived, especially after all the things you did to innocent people, you kind of deserved this," The bald detective admitted,"But maybe.. If you wake up, you'll realize you are being given a second chance.. And maybe change your ways"

He heard the beeping of the monitor remain the same as he continued,"But.. People like you.. They never change. I doubt you can ever change your demented ways.. If you did.. Maybe you'd realize how wonderful this world can be, and how horrible you were"

Kine removed his hand from the rail, walking toward the door. "I won't tell anyone you're still alive, maybe you can return that favor one day," He finished, walking out of the room quietly.

The doctor was right outside, and Kine whipped out a business card and handed it to him. It was Kine's personal phone number, the one that not even Izaya knew. "If anything changes, please use this number to get ahold of me, I'll come as soon as possible," Kine said, while the doctor nodded.

Walking back to the waiting room, he saw Manami waiting for him. Together, they walked out of the hospital, not looking back. They had no reason to stay any longer. There was nothing else they could do.

– – – – – –

The world continued to move.

A year after Izaya's supposed death, everyone had all but forgotten about him. The world kept moving, so why remember?

Varona went back to Russia for safety, and hadn't visited. Celty gave her head back, and decided to stay with Shinra. The van gang was still the same, the trio were now all out of high school, while Aoba and Izaya's sisters were moving into their second year of middle school. Yes, the world continued on. Though, a few people still couldn't forget.

Simon would never forget, he felt guilt for the whole thing. He knew Izaya wasn't really good person, but everyone deserved a second chance, Simon got one, and he used it well. But Izaya would never get that chance. Simon had been _right there_ when it happened, but he was too slow. He watched Izaya die, and no matter what anyone said, he couldn't forget it.

Surprisingly, neither could Shizuo Heiwajima, the one who should have been rejoicing over the death of his mortal enemy. Soon after, he realized that he had, by association, killed someone. Just because it was Izaya, it didn't make it right. But now he was dead, and Shizuo, despite Varona's words, could not help but think of himself as a monster. He had killed one of the last people that wasn't afraid of him, and he never realized how much Izaya was in his life. He.. Actually missed Izaya. But, it was too late.

Little did any of them know, that Izaya was far from dead.

– – – – –

Not that the doctors really knew either. For a full year, Izaya didn't move, he didn't change, nothing. Kine and Manami didn't visit, they had split up from each other, deciding to move on unless something changed. They had no obligation to go back anyways.

His head wound had healed, obviously, and thanks to that his hair had regrown, longer than it had been before, down to his lower neck in messy strands. Izaya's hair was growing at a faster rate than most people, curiously.

The male's body was recovering, slowly but surely. His arms had been taken out of their big cast at around the six month mark, but now he had several scars around his arms, and since there was still damage they had a thick set of bandages over them. The wound on his stomach may have healed, but there was now a pretty nasty looking scar where the open wound used to be.

But, he had grown skinnier, as he hadn't been able to eat very much while in his coma, other than through a tube. His muscles were weakened since he hadn't been using them, and despite all this good and bad, Izaya still hadn't changed medically. There was no signs of him waking up, and the doctors were beginning to lose hope. They tried to contact Kine, but the detective never answered. It all seemed hopeless, and the doctors had even begun to plan to pull the comatose male's plug when it happened.

One of the newer nurses had walked into the room that morning, having been sent to check on the patients vitals. She moved over to the machines quickly, feeling a little awkward around someone in such a state. She checked the dials on the heart monitor, making sure nothing had been tampered with. Then, looked down at her clipboard to see what Izaya's average heart rate was, before looking up at the heart monitor and frowning.

She leaned forward, tapping the screen curiously. "What?" She asked aloud,"It's different, it looks like he's.. Awake?" She slowly turned her head to look back around.

She squealed in surprise, dropping her clipboard, at the sight of one half-open red eye staring straight at her. It wasn't her eyes tricking her, he actually woke up! Despite her better judgment, she ran out of the room to find a doctor.

Once she returned, the flustered doctor right behind her, she felt relief that it wasn't a hallucination of some kind on her part. His red eye was continuing to stare at them tiredly, his bandaged twitching slightly, and the oxygen mask fogging up with his breathing.

"Oh thank goodness," The doctor said in relief, realizing that his patient was actually awake and alive. Turning to the nurse, he said,"Anzu-chan, on my desk is a card, the name on the card is Kine. Try and contact him, he'll want to know that his friend is awake"

Anzu had nodded quickly and run out of the room faster than the older man could follow, as he had someone else to watch. His patient.

Izaya seemed a little overwhelmed, his bandaged hands twitching and eye trying to examine the room around him. Strangely, he wasn't panicking like other coma patients usually did when they woke up. Maybe he was still waking up?

The doctor quickly walked to the bed, causing the red eye to land on him again. "Good afternoon," He began,"Can you hear me?" He figured keeping his patient calm and checking his vitals at the same time would be good.

It was obvious that Izaya could see with the eye he had left, but the doctor didn't know if anything else had been affected by the year long coma. Thankfully, Izaya inclined his head, nodding weakly. Good, it seemed it wasn't as bad as the doctor was worried about.

"I'm doctor Nowaki," He introduced himself. "Do you remember who you are? Do you remember how you ended up in the hospital?"

That's when the man's face scrunched up in concentration, he seemed to be thinking long and hard. Nowaki wasn't very surprised, after all he had woken up from a long term coma. He probably would have to relearn many things, even walking and talking. But Nowaki would be a little nervous if Izaya had even forgotten his own name.

It seemed the raven had given up, as he relaxed against the bed. "Izaya," Nowaki began again, hoping to help jog the 24 year old's memory. The raven looked at him, responding to the name, but no emotions entered his eyes. "You've.. Been in a coma for a year for a gunshot wound to the head," He said, but the man's face still didn't change.

Izaya's eye didn't change very much, but grew a calculating gaze to it, before he looked back at Nowaki. "Y-you're going to need a lot of rehab to recover, and I need to give you a physical examination, and check your vitals all the way now that you're awake, then you'll be scheduled to go into rehab, understood?"

The male nodded again, and Nowaki moved to help him sit up. Izaya wasn't very helpful, but then again he probably was having trouble supporting himself, and he barley weighed over half of what he used to.

Nowaki started with his eyes, removing the eyepatch to check on his eye. Over the year, a white, cloudy film had covered the red of the blind eye. When the young doctor flashed the flashlight over Izaya's working eye, it didn't dilate. Not unsurprising, because of the brain damage, but still unsettling.

The eyepatch was put back on, and Nowaki checked his reactions, but Izaya wasn't reacting. The hammer hitting against Izaya's weak knees gave no reaction, several other tests to check Izaya's reactions that involved touch all failed, which was indeed unnerving. Izaya was staring off in the distance, until Nowaki asked,"Izaya, do you feel any of this?"

Izaya looked down at Nowaki, and shook his head. Honestly, Izaya didn't even realize the doctor had even done anything. He shook his head drowsily. Despite having just woken up, the overwhelming overload of information.

"Wait, Izaya, before you sleep, can we do a few tests on you? We need to check and find what's wrong with you, and make sure nothing went wrong when you woke up," Nowaki said, at least wanting to get the patients permission. Thankfully, Izaya nodded again, his face vacant of any emotions.

They started the tests as quickly as possible, the more experienced doctors taking over while Nowaki supervised from an outside room. They were examining the 24 year old's brain, nerves, and his muscle, trying to see why he wasn't responding to much physically, and how long recovery would take for him mentally.

The fact he wasn't talking and was having trouble remembering things was unsettling, but it was what happened with coma patients. In many coma situations, people had to relearn almost everything. With what he already saw, he knew Izaya's road to recovery would be a long one. But what unnerved him was the lack of reaction, both physically and unemotionally from the young man. What could be the problem?

While outside the testing room, Anzu returned with her clipboard, back from her task of going to contact Kine. He gave her an expectant look, wanting an answer. The young woman sighed before shaking her head. Once again, they were unable to get ahold of Kine, Izaya's emergency contact.

Though, since Izaya seemed rather lucid, he would probably be recovered enough to make decisions for himself by the time they got ahold of the damn detective.

"Any news on the patient?" Anzu asked curiously, knowing it hadn't been that long, but she was really curious as to how their year long comatose patient was faring now that he was finally awake.

Nowaki looked down at the papers of his clipboard, and began,"We haven't gotten much yet but the usual when it comes to cases like this. You know, hypoglycemia, hypercapnia, he lost a lot of weight.. He seems to not remember much of anything, though he hasn't shown much agitation or confusion like other recorded patients did.. He didn't even talk to me, or try and move, so he may have forgotten how to do all that, though I would hope he remembered, as it would mean recovery would be less strenuous on him"

Anzu nodded softly, and the two medical figures stood in silence for a moment before she asked,"Did he seem to have any more brain damage from the coma?"

"Not that I could see, he was responding very well to all my questions," Nowaki said hopefully,"He didn't seem to remember much though.. And he didn't react to my touch at all"

"Nerve damage?" Anzu suggested curiously, and Nowaki shrugged in a very un-doctor like way. "Well, I would expect that in his arms, the breaks were severe and it will probably take him a while for him to be able to use his hands normally.. But maybe it has to do with his brain?"

The doors opened a little while later, revealing the nurse from inside with their patient in a wheelchair. Izaya still seemed extremely calm for someone waking up from a year long coma, he was merely looking around the hospital rooms silently, seemingly to figure out more about where he was. The nurse handed Nowaki the test results and said,"You can take him from here, Nowaki, he needs to rest"

Nowaki nodded, pushing the male back towards his room in the rehabilitation section of the hospital. His room had been moved so that can start helping him to recover as soon as possible, Nowaki knew it would probably take a while, after all Izaya just woke up and-

"Where?"

Nowaki stopped in his tracks, and looked down at Izaya in shock. Did the male just speak? He thought that the coma would have made Izaya forget how.. He saw the male's one red eye staring up at him, before the raven asked again. "Where?" 

"I'm sorry Izaya, I didn't realize you were talking at first. Your room was moved, so we're going to head there now," Nowaki said, and Izaya stared at him for a moment before nodding calmly and looking around again.

Nowaki couldn't hide his curiosity as they continued down the hall. "Orihara-san, could you talk before?" Izaya looked up at him again and then whispered,"Yeah.."

"Well why didn't you before?" Nowaki asked, wondering why he had remained silent when Nowaki was asking him questions.

Izaya shrugged slightly, looking forward again, his face emotionless, and then said,"Nothing to say.."

They pulled into the room, and Nowaki helped the man sit down. Obviously, he was very drowsy, his eye was drooping and he looked a little unsteady. "Izaya?" Nowaki asked, causing the man to jerk up slightly. "Can you tell me everything you remember about how you ended up in the hospital?" He needed to know, the mental state of Izaya was one of the most important things right now, gunshot wounds to the head, if you were lucky to survive, could change a lot of things.

Izaya looked up at the ceiling, his eye half open, as he said,"There was lots of people.. On the ground.. There was a huge flash.. And I got shot"

"Do you remember who shot you?" Nowaki asked, and gained a shake of the head in return. Izaya then looked down at his hands again, struggling to slowly close and open them. Nowaki sighed, he felt a little better but also more worried. Izaya couldn't remember who shot him, but Kine told them before he left that Izaya knew the person who shot him beforehand. He forgot things.

It was a miracle that Izaya could remember how to talk, but that's where the problem came in. Talking could be retaught, but memories? If Izaya couldn't remember the face of his own attacker, it could be extremely dangerous for him.

"Alright, get some rest Izaya, we'll begin physical therapy tomorrow," Nowaki said softly, lowering the lights in the room after connecting Izaya to the heart monitor. Izaya watched him go, before looking around the dark room silently.

He knew the doctor was hiding something from him. Since he woke up, Izaya's mind was running a thousand miles in a second. He found himself examining everything and everything he could see. There was only so much he could remember, and he knew he had done something in order to get shot. _I think I was.. A bad person.._ Izaya thought. _There's at least an 87% chance that's the case, I thought of everything I could._ _But..I can't remember what I did.. Izaya thought. I feel like it was bad, that a lot of people didn't like me.. Nowaki didn't mention any family or friends.. I doubt I was well liked._

 _Maybe I can change that later, since I don't remember it'll be a good chance to change for the better, at at least do something different with my life._ He thought silently, leaning against the pillow, his black hair, which was not actually straight, it was starting to become wavy and curled. He rather liked it, and hoped to keep it. Unable to keep his eyes open any longer, Izaya closed her eyes and fell asleep.

– – – – – –

They started physical therapy for Izaya quickly.

Nowaki had him practicing several exercises for his arms and legs, and all together getting his body back in working order. The second order of business was helping him work on putting on weight, since he had become skin and bones despite their attempts to give him nutrients during the coma. It seemed that, since waking up, there were only a few things Izaya had to relearn. Most were simple things, like how to use chopsticks or reading.

He still didn't react to almost anything, and his emotions seemed to not be there at all. He remained quiet, calm, and his voice was monotone or simply relaxed. Despite this, he actually made good conversation. Nowaki found himself often spending his lunch break with his patient, and talking with him. It was almost as much fun as talking with his Hiro-san.

Progress went well, Izaya's leg went faster than his arms though. Despite all this, Izaya never complained. Despite how horrible broken his arms were, and the large, painful looking scars that ran up and down his arms, he didn't seem to feel pain from the physical therapy. It was.. Strange. He wondered if Izaya could feel, physically, at all. He wanted to explore it further, but didn't have the permission to do so.

Izaya seemed to often go off into thought, or stare out the window. He never seemed to ask any questions, but Nowaki could see his want to leave. But he was apprehensive to allow Izaya to leave. He didn't remember much about his old life, if he ran into anybody, and they were the people who wanted the poor guy dead, he wouldn't realize it until it was probably too late. So, as the four months of physical therapy passed, he tried to avoid the topic as much as he could.

He walked into the room that evening, holding a bag of fast food. Izaya was playing with a puzzle cube on his bed to keep his fingers working. It was the easiest way to work his fingers and get his arms back up to shape. He looked up when he saw Nowaki, and gave a gentle nod.

"Hey! How are you feeling?" Nowaki asked in his usual cheerful tone, Izaya's one eye stared up at him for a moment before shrugging.

He placed the solved puzzle cube down and said,"I feel fine, normal" Nowaki smiled and nodded, before pulling out a thing of fries.

"I know I'm not supposed to bring in outside food, but you deserve it after all that physical therapy, your walking has really improved, a few more months and you'll be up to speed in no time!" He said happily.

Izaya took the hot food and held it in his hand. Despite seeing the steam coming off of the warm fries, he could not feel the heat. He couldn't seem to feel anything, physically. There were multiple occasions, since waking up, that he would burn his tongue or cut himself without realizing it because he never felt it.

While staring at the food, he wondered if he should tell Nowaki what he thought. He knew that he didn't need to stay at the hospital anymore, he saw Nowaki's papers. He could leave if he wanted, Nowaki just didn't want him to.

"Nowaki, I want to leave," He said simply, looking up at Nowaki with his half-lidded eyes. "I can leave now, right? I'm recovered"

The blue haired giant cringed, and said,"Izaya.. It's not safe out there, you don't remember enough, I don't want you to get hurt by anyone who may recognize you"

"Then I won't go back to the place people know me in," Izaya drowsily replied, rubbing his tired eye. He may be recovering, but he seemed to have trouble sleeping because of all his thoughts. "But you know that, even if I stay, I have to leave at some point, there's no getting around it, if there's nothing wrong with me, I'll just be in the way of other patients"

Nowaki squeezed his clipboard slightly, and sighed. "I understand.. Then, will you promise me to not stay in Ikebukuro or Shinjuku for long?"

Those two towns send sudden sparks of anxiety through Izaya, before he quickly calmed down again. Why did it scare him so much? Maybe Nowaki was right to tell him to stay away from there.

"Okay," Izaya answered in his normal monotone,"I promise I will, you can trust me Nowaki" The young doctor nodded, he knew he could, but he still couldn't help but worry. "Just.. Please be safe okay?" He asked back. Izaya's eye opened all the way, more serious, and nodded.

Izaya left just a week later. He was dressed in an outfit the worried Nowaki got for him, a simple black turtleneck sweater, and black pants. His hair was now down past his shoulders, and bangs in his eyes. It took him a moment to register the world around him, it was night time when he left, so the lights were rather awing.

He wasn't in Shinjuku or Ikebukuro, in fact he didn't actually know where he was. He just knew he was leaving, he had to find something to do with his life. He looked around outside for a little while before heading down the sidewalk, his one eye staring up at the sky.

He didn't find the people around him interesting, he more was interested in the world around him than other human beings. The world was much bigger than he realized, and when you could only remember so much, seeing a world outside of the white hospital rooms was amazing.

Though he didn't know where he was going, he eventually would find some place to call home. He was just a simple human, there had to be somewhere that he belonged..


	3. Chapter 3

_**YAY! I HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL IN LIKE 40 MINUTES BUT I FINISHED IT!**_

 _ **I hope you guys enjoy this! I love writing this story, and I was really excited to post this! This story will be updated more often now since I don't have to do a bunch of research on comas XD**_

 _ **Enjoy~**_

– – – – – –

The world was truly beautiful, Izaya just had to say that in all sincerity. He felt no need or want to examine and watch the other people around him, the world was far more interesting as a whole. So much so that the raven would often find himself stopping every now and then just to examine it, before continuing on his wanders, never really knowing where he was headed.

But still, he had just gotten out of the hospital a week ago, so his body began to grow tired quickly. Removing himself from the crowds of the city, he walked to a nearby park and sat on a bench. He looked up at the sky curiously, before his stomach groaned for attention. Placing one bandaged hand on his stomach, he quietly said,"I'm hungry.."

He knew he could have asked Nowaki for money, but the young doctor had already done so much for him, even keeping conversation with him throughout his physical therapy. Other nurses tried to as well, but found it hard to deal with his emotionless responses. Nowaki managed to chip through that first layer and actually become his friend. Not to mention the fact he kept convincing the other doctors to leave Izaya on life support longer than they originally planned, which saved him in the end. Izaya felt that asking for money would have been a rather rude thing to do.

Izaya decided to merely deal with it for now, since he couldn't exactly do much of anything about that problem at the moment. He sniffed, taking in a deep breath. It smelt like rain, and he found it was a much more welcoming smell than whatever cleaner they used at the hospital. As the water fell, he found that he felt like he could remain there for a long time, his eye closed, just listening and smelling the rain around him.

Sitting under the tree, shielded from the rain, he suddenly heard a noise. It sounded like.. Crying? He stood up, placing his hand against the tree and looking around him. When he saw nothing, he walked around to the other side of the tree, and saw someone on the ground. It was.. A small child? The little girl was sobbing, soaked, and shivering from the rain.

Izaya knelt down next to the child, asking,"Hey, are you okay?" The girl squeaked, before jumping up and looking at the raven. The little girl slowly nodded, and Izaya tilted his head curiously. He looked around, but it seemed everyone had retreated from the sudden onslaught of weather. The little girl had long, messy blonde hair, green eyes, and was wearing what looked like a school uniform.

"Where are your parents?" He asked, wondering why she was out on her own in such a big city. The little girl looked at him, before beginning to tear up again. "I-I don't know! I was trying to find my way home.. I got lost!" She sobbed.

Izaya was unsure of how to comfort her, but he still knew he had to get the child back to her family. "Well, where do you live? I'll take you home," He declared, watching the girl's face grow hopeful.

"My momma has a cafe.. We live there! It's name is the Tsugumi's Cafe.. It's named after me!" The girl said, growing proud at that fact, before giving Izaya a hopeful look. "C-can you help me find it?"

"Of course," Izaya replied instantly,"Can I carry you? That way you won't get wet from the rain" Tsugumi nodded, holding up her hands and allowed Izaya to hold her against his chest. He slumped over slightly, before walking out into the rain. His hair instantly grew heavier, making him realize how heavy it was.

He knew where he was wasn't exactly a big city, but he could not remember if he'd ever been here before, he did not know what Tsgumi's Cafe looked like. "Do you know the buildings next to it?" He asked,"What does the sign on your cafe look like?" 

"The sign is green, and it has a pretty leaf next to it! There's an old lady next to us who sells clothes! Her shop is called.. Buttons and Bows! She sells really nice kimonos!" She said excitedly,"It has a really pretty cat on the window!"

Izaya looked around in the rain, before noticing a sign with a leaf. He walked a little faster, coming up to the sign and reading the sign. He huffed, feeling a slight amount of annoyance as he saw the sign was not Tsugumi's Cafe, but instead Natsu's Garden Supplies. He turned and looked around, his sweater now soaked with water.

He decided that the building he was looking for might be farther away, since two signs with the same type of item (a leaf) on them might stir up anger between both owners. He walked around some corners, the heavy rain making it hard to see.

"What's your name, mister?" Tsugumi suddenly asked,"I told you mine, and momma told me that you have to be nice and give your name back" She stared up at him, her green eyes not moving unless they got what they wanted.

Izaya stared back at her, unfazed, before he said,"My name is Orihara Izaya" Tsugumi tilted her head and then said,"Can I call you Izzy?"

"Sure, I've never been given a nickname before," Izaya replied in a relaxed tone,"Can I call you Gumi?"

"Ooh! Like the vocaloid!" Tsugumi said excitedly,"Yeah! Call me Gumi!" Izaya nodded, before turning his eyes back up on the road.

That's when he saw a light. Most of the buildings in the shopping districts were closed, since it was getting late and the heavy onslaught of rain was sending people home. He picked up the pace, and made it to the sidewalk. "We're here," He said simply, and the little girl looked up at the sign excitedly. "Oh! Yay!" She exclaimed,"Izzy! We made it home!"

She squirmed out of the male's arms, before grabbing his hand and saying,"C'mon! I want you to meet my mommy!" Tsugumi then ran towards the door, pulling it open quickly, and running inside. "Momma!"

Three people were sitting at the counter of the cafe, sniffing and looking worried. One was a small boy with spiky brown hair, whom was wiping his eyes and sniffing sadly. The one behind the counter was a young woman with shoulder length, blonde hair, also crying. The last woman was a short, older woman, with a cane and old fashioned kimono, who was comforting the other woman. They all jerked up at the sound of Tsugumi's voice.

"Tsugumi!" The younger woman cried in relief, running out of the counter and hugging her soaked daughter. "Oh honey! We were so worried!" She buried her daughter in her chest, hiding her face in the messy hair and sighing in relief.

The older woman was the first to notice Izaya. As she came closer, she asked,"And who are you, young man, to come in here uninvited?!" Izaya blinked his one eye, before bowing slightly as an apology.

"No! Granny! That's Izzy! He found me when I was lost, he helped me find my way home! He carried me so I wouldn't get really wet!" Tsugumi explained, pointing at the soaked male. The older woman seemed to calm down a bit, and stopped waving her cane.

The younger woman stood up, her brown eyes staring at Izaya in shock. "You.. You saved my daughter?" She asked.

Izaya blinked again, before saying,"Yes I did" The woman instantly lunged forward, hugging Izaya tightly, and causing the male to freeze up slightly. Suddenly, there was a small bit of emotion that flooded him, and he felt flustered.

Finally, the woman pulled away, and chuckled,"Sorry, we were really worried.. I'm Inuzuka Kanade, her mother. Thank you so much for rescuing Tsugumi!"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Orihara Izaya-"

"You're completely soaked!" The old woman suddenly yelled, finding something else to complain about. "Where was your umbrella?! You both could have been much more dry! Foolish young people!"

"Yoshi!" Kanade tried to say, attempting to calm the situation.

Izaya tilted his head at the woman, before saying,"I don't have an umbrella.." The old woman looked like she was about to yell about that fact, before Kanade jumped in, saying,"Okay! Okay! Let's not fight!"

Kneeling down next to the little boy, she asked,"Kaoru, can you go get us some fluffy towels?" The little boy grew determined, and ran off, before Kanade turned to Tsugumi and said,"And you, young lady, go change!" Tsugumi nodded, before running up the stairs, still filled with energy despite her unplanned journey.

Kaoru ran back in, dragging the towels on the floor, but he still managed to grab them. Kanade gave the towel to Izaya, allowing him to dry off a bit before bringing him to a table. Kanade gave him a mug, filling it with a warm liquid. "I can't thank you enough for finding her, Orihara-kun, we were looking everywhere," She told him softly.

"Why was she on her own in the first place?" Izaya asked back, tilting his head slightly. Kanade sat across from him, running a hand through her hair and sighing softly.

She threaded her fingers together and said,"Well, I told her teachers I was going to be late, since our last employee quit and so I've had to cover their shifts. The teacher promised to watch her until I could get over there, but Tsugumi ran off on her own after a while, so I closed up shop early and went out to look for her, but we couldn't find her. Thank you so much!"

"It was no trouble at all, I was just doing what any decent human being would do," Izaya replied simply, bringing up his cup to his mouth and drinking the hot chocolate. It seemed that, the only feeling Izaya could still feel was in his tongue, and of course he could taste. But everything else was extremely numb.

"Where'd your eye go?" The little boy suddenly asked, pointing at Izaya's face curiously. Yoshi glared at Kaoru and snapped,"Young man, mind your manners!"

Izaya wasn't bothered by it, he was a child, he didn't know. "It's okay, I don't mind it. I still have my eye, however I can't see out of it because of an injury," He explained. The little boy looked awed, and nodded quickly.

"So, where do you come from, if you don't mind me asking? Are you here on some type of business trip?" Kanade asked softly, tilting her head curiously. Izaya froze for a moment, before lowering his cup back onto the table.

"Um.. No, I don't have a job.."

"How irresponsible!" Yoshi muttered,"Why, in my day, young men your age should already have their career planned out and be working there!"

Izaya's emotionless gaze didn't change as he replied,"I used to have a job.. I'm pretty sure I did at least.."

"What do you mean.. Pretty sure?" Kanade asked, her green eyes filled with confusion. Yoshi had now sat down, staring at him curiously.

"I mean, I can't remember if I did. I can't remember much of anything," He admitted,"Over a year ago, I was shot in the head. I was brought to a hospital, but I was in a coma for a year. By then, I'm pretty sure whatever I used to work as had hired someone else, my apartment was most likely overdue so they set it up for someone else, and I couldn't remember much at all"

Yoshi's eyes actually had some worry in them, as she said,"You're lucky to be alive, young man. It's a miracle you even lived long enough to be brought to a hospital."

"I know, but now I have to find a job, and I don't exactly have anybody who will vouch for me, so the past week I've just been sleeping wherever I could and trying to find somewhere to work," He admitted. He also hadn't eaten much in the past week, but decided not to bring that up.

Tsugumi, whom had been listening into the conversation, suddenly ran up to her mom and tugged on her shirt. "Momma! He can work here!" She exclaimed.

"What?" Kanade asked her daughter curiously. The excitable child jumped up and down, before saying,"He can work with us! You're always complaining 'bout how we don't have enough workers, he can work with us!" 

"Yeah!" Kaoru yelled loudly, mainly because he didn't want to be the only boy at the cafe anymore.

Izaya stared at the children for a moment, before turning his eye to Kanade and saying,"If you would have me, I would truly appreciate it, but if not I understand"

"No, we would love to have you!" Kanade said happily,"And, you saved Tsugumi, we owe you. It would be amazing if you could, since we're really running low on hands. I'll pay you, though it may not be enough to get a flat at first, you could stay here until then, it would be wonderful if you would take the job" She gave him a pleading look.

Izaya tilted his head curiously, before his lips twitched, almost forming a smile. "Of course I will, and I should be thanking you for even offering me the job, and a place to stay, when you don't have to," He said in appreciation.

Tsugumi and Kaoru cheered excitedly, jumping up and down. "Yay! Izzy gets to stay with us!" The little girl cheered, running around the table with more energy than the three adults had right now combined.

"I'm not the only boy anymore!"!" Kaoru screamed loudly, making Yoshi and Kanade chuckle softly. Izaya felt a small amount of joy, realizing he had just gotten a job and a new friend. He felt very good right now.

About a half hour later, Yoshi went back to her clothing store next door, and the kids went to bed. Kanade set Izaya up in the guest room upstairs, and everyone went to sleep. As he fell asleep, Izaya wondered what the future would bring, as there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that things weren't over yet.

– – – – – – –

Over the course of three months, Izaya grew close to Inuzuka family.

After they realized Izaya only had one outfit, they brought him to Yoshi's store and helped him find some outfits that suited him.

Tsugumi herself noticed that Izaya looked nice in traditional clothes after he tried on a Yukata, and then the little girl begged Izaya to get some more of them to wear. He did as she asked, and now often was wearing yukatas or kimonos of any type of color. The little girl also enjoyed his long hair, so he decided not to cut that, letting the little girl style it very often.

He and Tsugumi bonded and often they played things together, from video games to tea parties. Kaoru often played spaceships or other games with Izaya, and he was one of the things that really helped Izaya with his recovery, since when they went to the park Izaya and Kanade had a lot of trouble keeping up with him. So, running became easier.

Yoshi was still cranky, but she meant well. She often yelled, but normally she was yelling about if Izaya or Kanade's family had eaten, or if they were forgetting something. Though she was suspicious of Izaya at first, she found common ground with the male and they often discussed books or the world in general.

Kanade was a godsend, truly. The woman not only gave him a job and a place to stay, but she also helped him fill out, though he was still rather skinny, he was getting better. Together, they worked in the cafe, and often came up with new recipes together, and most of them were so successful that the cafe was becoming a rather popular place to visit. He really appreciated the fact that, even after seeing his scars on his arms and stomach, she never tried to pry, and she didn't mind his trouble with emotions at times. She was often the one scolding Izaya when he grabbed something too hot without realizing it or when he cut himself without noticing.

Even though he still had trouble with people, he felt very relaxed and found his life now (though he really couldn't compare to anything) very amazing. He liked it very much, but he knew it wouldn't last for very long.

He knew something was coming, but he just didn't know what..

– – – – – –

"This place is pretty popular, but I don't really see anything that different from other cafes," A man grumbled, sitting at a booth. He was rather tall and slim with light brown hair and sharp yellow eyes, his bangs were parted to the right and his hair was neat, but spiky, and ended in a long ponytail. He had glasses hanging on the edge of his nose, and was wearing a beige vest over a black long-sleeved dress shirt, a red ribbon tied to a bow, with beige pants and brown shoes.

His companion was a man of shorter stature, with dirty blonde hair in a wavy style and narrow blue eyes. His bangs framed his face, while some gathered in the middle of his forehead. He was wearing a dark tench coat that reached his knees with the belt untied, under it was a black vest with a striped dress shirt under that was light blue inn hue. He wore a bolo tie, held by a brown ribbon and turquoise pendant. He also dons beige pants, dark shoes, and his right arm was in a sling.

"Kunikida-kun, it has the most delicious food in all of the city! We simply had to come here!" The blonde said.

Kunikida scoffed and looked around the cafe, before he leaned forward and whispered,"Dazai, we have to catch those gunmen, that's out assignment, sitting in this cafe when they could be going out and shooting people is a bad idea"

"Oh, Kunukida, stop being a debbie downer, we have a week to find them, it'll be simple!" He said, flipping his blonde hair simply as the waited came up. Kunikida looked at the waiter curiously. The woman had taken their order, but he was new, and he looked.. Curious.

Mainly because of the eyepatch over his eye and his hands and arms were almost completely covered in bandages and they tended to shake or twitch, and very small scars on his face, you could only see them if you were looking for them. His face was emotionless, as he handed them their plates, saying,"Here is your food, sirs." Before walking away.

Kunikida watched him go, wondering what type if injuries could have happened to the poor kid. He looked like he was a pretty respectable person, and still very young, what in the world happened to him? Dazai wondered what his partner was looking at, and took a peek at the young man behind the counter. "Oh, you saw him too?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's kind of strange.." He muttered, before going back to his food. He did, however, keep his eyes on the male until he was out of sight.

Izaya could feel that he was being watched, and it made him very uncomfortable. It was a hot day, and the whole cafe was packed, so obviously there were people everywhere, but Izaya could feel someone, actually two someones watching him very particularly.

He went to pour some more coffee, only to realize they had run out. "Kanade-chan, I'm going to run the storage room real quick, do you need anything?" He asked the stressed woman, who looked up before smiling tiredly.

"Ah, yeah. Can you get a few more of those metal platters from the shelf in there? We need more," She told him, and Izaya nodded softly.

He walked down the stairs into the storage room, his eye examining everything until he caught sight of the things they needed. He had to get on his toes to reach the coffee beans, but it was alright. Just as he was heading towards the stairs, he hear something, something horrible. It was screaming, and the sound of gunshots.

Izaya felt his heart skip a beat, as yelling suddenly filled the room too. Quickly, he climbed up the metal stairs, listening to the conversation through the door.

"Everyone on the fucking ground!" A man's voice screamed,"You are our hostages! Anyone moves, we shoot!"

Gunmen? He had seen them on the news yesterday, they had robbed one of Tokyo's largest banks and were now on the run. Had been for over a week, and they ended up here?

He slowly opened the door, and that's when something hit him. Suddenly, his body was acting by instinct, as he slipped through the door, holding the metal platters and leaning into a small indent into the wall, hiding himself.

The gunmen was walking, he could hear it. "Unless the police give us what we want, which is a way out of the country with our cash, I will shoot all of you one by one, until all of you are fucking dead," He sneered, and Izaya could hear whimpering.

He tried to listen, leaning over so he could peek. He saw three men, while everyone else was crouching down. The one that looked like one of the lackeys walked around the counter, and grabbed Kanade. "Well, look at this pretty lady, maybe we'll just have to take us with you, huh sweetheart?" He sneered, licking at her cheek, making the girl whimper. "You'll be fun to play with"

"Let her go!" Someone yelled, and Izaya realized it was the man with the ponytail whom was staring at him. He had jumped from his chair, but was instantly pushed down to the ground by the man with a knife behind him.

Izaya's mind sped, he saw two men with guns and only one with a knife. He needed to do something. He couldn't watch this, he knew he could do something.

Instinct took over, and Izaya took off. He took one of the metal plates, and then threw it. It clanged across from him, and the men froze. The one holding Kanade looked down the stairs, and Izaya hid quickly. He heard a voice say,"Well? What the fuck are you staring for? Go look!"

He heard the steps, someone was coming down the stairs. Izaya waited, hiding in the small inning. The man slowly crawled down the stairs, walking right past Izaya, whose heart was beating extremely fast. They were out of view, Izaya slid out of the small inning and pushed the man. He attempted to turn around and get Izaya, but fell. He tumbled down the stairs, groaning at the bottom of them.

Izaya crawled toward the top of the stairs. "Otonashi?!" One man yelled,"Oi! What happened?" More footsteps, and Izaya climbed up the stairs. The gunmen froze, not expecting Izaya to be the one coming up the stairs.

In a panic, Izaya threw the metal platter like a Frisbee, and it hit the man right in between his eyes with a loud clang. The intensity of his throw was so hard that the man fell, blood spurting from the wound. Izaya looked up, hearing more footsteps as the man with a knife ran at him. "Fucking punk!" 

The man slashed, and instincts suddenly came back to Izaya. He dodged, the man slashed again, he dodged again. He didn't know how he was managing it, but he just kept going. "Stop fucking moving!" The man yelled, continuing to try and hit Izaya.

Izaya moved, kicking the back of the man's legs and making the attacking fall onto his back. Just as he did that, Otonashi ran back up the stairs, limping but angry. "Die!" He yelled, pointing his gun at Izaya, and went to pull the trigger-

 _ **BANG!**_

He never got the chance, as Kunikida drew his own gun and shot, hitting the gunmen in his shoulder and causing him to drop the gun. Dazai got up quickly, running to the other gunmen and putting his hands in handcuffs, Kunikida running to do the same to the other gunmen.

The police sirens went off outside, as the people in the cafe stood froze some crying and other staring in awe at their three saviors. "It's okay everyone!" Dazai said in his gentle tone,"The suspects have been apprehended, you're safe!"

Everyone finally slumped, and started hugging their loved ones. Kanade shuddered, before yelling,"Izaya!" She ran and hugged him, Izaya catching her in his arms and holding her protectively. "Kanade, are you okay?" He demanded quietly.

"I-I am now.. Y-you saved me!" She sobbed into his arm as the male comforted her. He brought her to one of the now abandoned tables and sat her down, talking to her gently and starting to relax her. He felt his hands shaking worse than normal, and a tear escaping his one eye. He had been so scared.. But he saved them all. How did he do that? He still didn't know how he knew how to fight those three men.

The police came in, talking and getting witnesses, and taking the suspects. Kunikida explained everything to them, and then looked at the young man, Izaya, as the woman had called him. He was still comforting her. Dazai stopped talking to a police officer, and noticed Kunikida's behavior again.

Walking over to his partner, he said,"He's very skilled" Kunikida nodded, continuing to stare. Dazai frowned slightly, before poking his partner's shoulder. "Well, are you going to ask him? You know, he would be a good addition to the force"

Kunikida looked at Dazai, then at Izaya, before sighing, and then walking toward the duo, Dazai behind him. Noticing them coming, Izaya stood in front of Kanade protectively.

"Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you," Kunikida said,"We just want to talk" Izaya examined the two men suspiciously, before he replied,"You were the one staring at me earlier, and you had a weapon"

Dazai smiled softly and said,"Actually, that's what we came here to talk to you about, about why we have guns, why we didn't get in trouble, who we are"

"Who you are?" Izaya asked, eyes roaming over the both of them. Dazai looked up at Kunikida, before both of them pulled their badges out of their pocket, pushing them out in front of themselves, showing them and all their golden glory. "We are the Armed Detective Agency," Dazai declared.

"And we would like to recruit you, Izaya, to join our agency"

– – – – – –

Manami sighed in relief as she and Kina stopped in front of the building. "Thank God, that took way too long," She said,"I hate being in a foreign country"

"At least it's done, though I didn't expect us to finish it so fast," Kine said, walking over and opening the door for Manami.

They climbed into the elevator together, as Kine pulled out his phone and stared at it. "My phone is still dead.." He muttered.

"That's what you get for forgetting that outlets change in different countries," Manami replied as they walked out of the elevator and towards the offices. "I wonder how everyone is doing..."

The door to the office opened, and then a blond head of hair ran out. The second they saw the duo, they grew excited. "Oh! Kine and Manami-kun!" He yelled excitedly,"Come here! Come here!"

He grabbed their hands, before pulling them into the offices, where it seemed most of the others were as well. "What is it?" Kine asked,"What's all the celebration for?"

"Look! Meet our newest recruit!" The blonde said excitedly, grabbing someone's bandaged hand and pulling them out of the crowd of other people. The world seemed to freeze around them, and the duo found themselves in front of a very familiar face... "I am pleased to introduce you to.. Detective Orihara Izaya!"

"Wait.. What the _ **FUCK?!**_ "


	4. Chapter 4

This couldn't be happening!

Manami had thought she had put that behind her, her old, twisted past. She had nearly forgotten about Izaya, she moved on from her revenge after watching the raven get shot. She lost the urge to kill him, he was as good as dead anyways. She left, went with Kine, became a detective. She did something useful with what used to be her sad, sorry life.

So.. So why was he back?!

Izaya.. Izaya motherfucking Orihara stood in front of her. He was wearing a navy blue yukata with a dark red obi around his stomach, a rose nestled in his long, silky black locks, which seemed to be curly, from what she could tell as it fell down his back.

Despite her sudden, vulgar outburst towards the raven, his lone red eye stared back at her. It was relaxed, calm, he didn't seem surprised or amused by her anger. There was no evil smirk, no insane glee. It was if he wasn't amused by what was going on, and it confused her greatly.

Dazai raised his eyebrows in surprise, before hugging Izaya from behind. "Ehh~? What's wrong? We kept Izaya-chan waiting here because we wanted to introduce him to you two! You should at least be polite to your new kouhai!" He exclaimed, smiling at them through his blonde locks.

"Forgive her.." Kine said quickly,"It's just, we were not expecting to see Izaya here.. We know him from somewhere else"

"Oh~?" Dazai asked, curiosity in his eyes. Meanwhile, Izaya's red eye seemed to stare at Kine, calculating, and seeming to examine both of the silently. Finally, he seemed to have had enough and whispered,"Kine.. And Manami?" He tilted his head, his eye widening slightly.

Izaya felt his heart beating unusually fast, but he knew why. He had remembered something, he had known these two Detectives' names despite never having met them. Kine and Manami… Kine and Manami.. He knew their names, but he couldn't remember anything else about them. He wanted to know, how did he know these people? 

Hearing her name in his voice seemed to set off Manami, as she suddenly lurched forward, punching Izaya right in his face, and causing the male to stumble back in surprise. "Why couldn't you have just died?!" She yelled, before turning and running out of the offices.

Izaya watched her go, his whole being a mix of many different, confusing emotions. Placing a hand over cheek she had punched. He didn't feel it, obviously, but it was her words that stung him. Died? Why did she want him to die?

All the other detectives had gone silent, and Dazai stared for a few more moments awkwardly. "Um.. I'm just gonna.. Go over here," He declared awkwardly, shuffling towards the lunch room and away from the awkward situation.

Kine looked back at Izaya, examining him in confusion. This wasn't the Izaya he remembered, he looked.. Softer, more delicate, yet still someone whom was not to be trifled with. Even after Manami left, there was no evil smirk of chuckle of amusement. He looked more.. Confused than anything. His gentle fingers remained on his cheek, before looking down at the ground. "I.. Don't understand.." The raven whispered quietly,"What did I do wrong?"

"Do you not remember?" Kine asked him, wondering if this was some type of trick. Izaya looked at him quietly, before he softly replied,"I'm afraid I can't remember much of anything these days, Kine-senpai"

He grew curious. Had Izaya really changed? Maybe someone out in the universe had heard his request, that Izaya be given a second chance, maybe this was it? He needed to know. "I think this would be easier to explain over some coffee, if that's okay with you?" He asked hopefully,"I think we both need to explain ourselves" Izaya gave a simple nod.

– – – – – –

A few minutes later, they found themselves at the Tsugumi Cafe. The owner greeted Izaya excitedly, hugging him and congratulating him for his new job, before setting them up with a table. Kine stared at Izaya curiously, examining the small things.

He saw the bandages around Izaya's hands and arms, the eyepatch on his right eye, his left eye half open and relaxed. Though, he seemed slightly uncomfortable under Kine's calculating gaze. Eventually, Kine decided he had examined enough for a while. "It's been a long time, Izaya," He began,"Do you remember me?"

"I remember your name.. But not who you are. I'm afraid, ever since I woke up from my coma, I can only remember a few things.." He explained,"When I saw you two, something just clicked. I knew who you were, you were Kine and Manami, but that was all I could remember.."

Doctor Nowaki was right then, Izaya did forget things. It wasn't too surprising, considering all the brain damage Izaya had gained. He also seemed to have undergone some sort of personality change. He was calm, relaxed, nearly emotionless. He hadn't even smiled or shown any type of malice or sadistic amusement yet, and Kine didn't believe he may see such expressions on Izaya's face ever again. "I see.. Do you remember your past?" He asked awkwardly.

Izaya looked thoughtful, bringing his steaming cup to his mouth and sipping his drink. Once he had set his drink back down, he shook his head. "No, but I know I wasn't a good person," He said simply.

"How do you know that?"

"It was easy to deduce. The fact that when I woke up, nobody was waiting, nobody ever came. Nowaki-kun never mentioned any friends or family, he warned me. He told me I have enemies in Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, to stay away from there. And considering the fact that Manami-senpai punched me in the face, and I find it very hard to believe that I managed to run into the only person in Japan who has distaste for me. If I'm able to run into one here out of complete coincidence, I don't doubt that I have a lot more enemies," Izaya explained, his eye never leaving Kine's face.

Kine made an impressed noise. "Good observation, you're right. You didn't have many friends, I think you only had one. We weren't friends.. However we did work together," He explained. Izaya tilted his head again, an insecure look flashing into his face.

"Can we.. Be friends now?" He asked, causing Kine to raise his eyebrows. This was really strange, Izaya was much different than the Izaya from a year ago. However, Kine didn't mind it at all. He had hoped that if Izaya had woken up, he would realize he had been given a second chance and use it wisely. It seemed that was exactly what happened.

Kine decided to take a chance, and held out his hand. "Detective Kine, pleasure to meet you," He said. Izaya's red eye looked up at him curiously for a moment, before he reached out his own bandaged hand, his lips twitching up into a soft, gentle smile. "Detective Orihara Izaya, the pleasure is all mine, Kine-senpai"

They finished their drinks, and began walking back to their homes. "Kine-senpai?" He asked suddenly. "Do you know why Manami-senpai doesn't like me?" He asked,"I would like to remedy the situation if it is possible"

"I do, but I'm not going to tell you"

When Izaya didn't respond, Kine continued,"It's a personal thing, if you want to make it up to her, I suggest you go to her to understand it" He suddenly became so defensive, it caught Izaya off guard. "Don't hurt her anymore than you already had before.. I know you can't remember it but.. She just got over it, and you suddenly come back. Please.. Fix it, don't make it worse" His eyes were filled with emotion, like a protective older brother.

"I promise, Kine-senpai," The raven replied firmly, he felt determined. He didn't know what he did to Manami, but he felt guilt. He didn't want to hurt people who didn't deserve to be hurt, and Manami was hurting because of something he did. He needed to make things between them better.

Kine nodded firmly, before a small smile appeared on his face. "I'm gonna go home now, be safe okay?" He asked, reaching his hand out and ruffling Izaya's hair, before turning and walking down the street. "See you tomorrow," He called calmly over his shoulder.

"Y-yeah.." Izaya called back quietly, wondering what that feeling in his chest was. He couldn't understand it, but he decided to just go home. With the money had had been given from stopping the gunmen, he was able to afford an apartment that was right next to the city's central park, and close to both the Agency and Tsugumi's cafe.

Little Tsugumi and Kaoru had a meltdown when they found out he was going to leave, and did not calm down until Izaya promised them that he would still be coming to help out and train new employees, and would spend nights there whenever the kids asked.

Yoshi had grumbled, saying he didn't need to leave, and that he'd better keep coming to her store or else she would beat him with her cane. Kanade had acted a little weird before he went, and even kissed his lips before he had gone. Izaya's heart had sped up after she did that, but he didn't understand it. What was that feeling called? He couldn't remember.

Izaya walked up to Apartment 1201, his apartment. There was a keypad with a speaker underneath the apartment's number plate. The door had the type of handle that couldn't be broken if you wanted to break in, it was long, and completely metal. There was a small keyhole underneath the handle, and a mailbox slot that was connected to a small metal box connected to the inside of the apartment's door. Currently, the door was open, because while he was in the cafe, he had been given some essentials by some of his superiors at work so he'd be able to work and actually have furniture, and the moving company had been bringing all his stuff in while he left.

His superiors refused to let him pay, saying it was a gift for him stopping the criminals whom had been on the run for over 6 months, apparently because of their trouble with these criminals the government was threatening to shut them down. For that, they were thankful. At least they let him pay for the movers bill.

The movers had just finished, and Izaya bowed politely. "That's the last of it, Thank you very much" The movers bowed back, before heading out. Izaya shut the door behind him and sighed, leaning against the door and slumping down.

Bringing his hands up and running his fingers through his hair. "My head hurts.." He muttered, looking at all the boxes. He wanted to unpack, but he found himself feeling too tired to do much of anything. Moving, getting a new job, and running into two people whom were from an old life he couldn't remember. He really just wanted to sleep.

About an hour later, just as he was dozing off, there was a knock on the door. Izaya jerked up, nearly crashing into a box. He stood up, rubbing the drowsiness from his eye. He opened the door, his eyes widening in shock.

It was Manami and Kine. Manami was holding what looked like a plate of coffee jelly and Mochi ice cream, her eyes were closed and there was a gentle smile on her face. Kine, however, realized who it was and his eyes widened in shock. "Hello! My name is Manami Mamiya, and this is my roommate Kine, we're your neighbors from 1202, we wanted to welcome you to the complex," She said softly, then opening her eyes.

She gasped in shock, realizing who exactly was her new neighbor. Her eyes widened for a moment, before they narrowed at him in anger. Before Izaya could open his mouth to explain himself, Manami angrily shoved the plate so hard in his face that the raven fell backwards onto the ground. "Fuck you!" Manami yelled, before slamming Izaya's door shut.

Feeling suddenly winded, Izaya brought his hand up and wiped the sweets off his face, looking at the plate in his lap in surprise. The plate had broken into several pieces with how hard she had hit him with it. She really hated him.. But Izaya still couldn't comprehend what he had done wrong. He needed to figure it out, he needed to find a way to fix it. But if she was going to be this hostile to him the entire time.. Looking back up at the door, Izaya released a huge, trouble sigh.

This was going to be harder than he anticipated.

– – – – – –

Izaya was getting ready for work the next day, thinking about how he was going to understand Manami more. It was hard, and he had to wonder, would she even be willing to listen to him? So far, ever interaction they had ended in a very hostile way. He could only hope to come up with something, before she found a way to murder him. They were trained in very dangerous ways, she probably knew more than a thousand painful ways to kill him. After all, they weren't exactly normal detectives..

– – – – – –

 _"We aren't just a normal detective agency, Iza-chan," Dazai had said,"We do the work the government can't, if it's too dangerous or may be seen as illegal in the eyes of the public, they have us do it. We get official pardons from them. So, we're sorta like spies and agents more than detectives, we can pull rank against every uniformed officer except our higher ups, because of our positions! It's so cool!"_

 _Kunikida had nodded, not looking up from his book. "But you only pull rank when it is absolutely necessary for a case or if someone could be in danger, pulling rank when your not supposed to can get you in a lot of trouble," He explained, ending Dazai a pointed look before turning back to Izaya for conformation. Izaya nodded quickly._

 _"Is that we are getting many types of training instead of the simple ones?" Izaya questioned, and his superiors nodded. Izaya understood it now, in the position they were in, they had to be prepared for whatever assignment was given to them, whether it was a normal police job or a country-wide mission. It was better to be safe than sorry._

– – – – – –

Izaya was really glad they were given that much training, and Izaya himself knew he had much more training to go before he would go through the official ceremony to become an Agent, at the moment he was considered a trainee by the other detectives. However, he learned that Manami was still a trainee as well, just a few months above him. Since Izaya showed what skills he had while fighting the gunmen, they decided to push him up in the system a little bit.

The raven braided his hair, before dressing in a white tank top and a pair of blue shorts with a white line on both sides. Around his neck was a chain, with his badge attached to it and hidden underneath his tank top. He had decided, because Nowaki said it was important to stay in shape, he would jog to and from work every day. It would keep him in good condition, which was especially important with his job.

The jog was nice, right through the residential area of town and to the Agency. On the way there, Izaya examined the world around him with interest. The sounds, the smells, the colors. It was nice, and he enjoyed the run greatly, though he was slightly winded near the end of it.

Hearing a bark, he slowed to a stop, looking towards the gate of a nearby park and seeing a dog sitting and watching him. Izaya walked forward, reaching his hand towards it, and kneeling to the dog's height. The tilted it's head, before resting it's muzzle in Izaya's palm. Izaya smiled a bit, using his other hand to pet the dog's head.

"You are a very sweet doggy," Izaya told it gently, scratching under it's chin. The dog looked like a pitbull, and she was white with brown spots. There was a very prominent spot over her left eye, and her right ear was completely brown. She was rather adorable, for a dog that most people feared.

When he pulled his hand away, the dog looked at him in confusion, wondering why he had stopped petting it. Izaya checked the time, before he softly said,"I have to go, Inu-chan, or else I'll be late for work"

Then, Izaya turned and jogged away, ignoring the saddened whimpers of the dog. The dog looked rather skinny, though it's belly was swelled a bit. Poor dog must be starving, Izaya would have to bring it back some food on his way home.

Izaya arrived and quickly went to the locker room, where he had left a spare change of clothes for after his jog. He took his backpack off his back and pulled out something he had wrapped in paper. Then, he changed into the outfit he had left behind yesterday.

He now was wearing a blue long sleeved jumper, underneath it was a white dress shirt and black neck tie. His pants were black dress pants with black dress shoes. Once he had put his badge back around his neck, he walked out of the locker room with the item wrapped in paper.

There weren't many people in the offices yet, since it was still pretty early. Izaya looked around for a moment, trying to find Manami's desk. Once he did, he unwrapped the paper with bandaged fingers, reveling the plate that Manami had hit him with yesterday, glued back together. He placed it down softly, before quickly moving away. Even though it didn't hurt when he got hit, falling down all the time wasn't that fun.

He went towards his own desk, until he was suddenly hugged from behind. Izaya grabbed at the arm around his waist, only to see that it was Dazai. "Izzy~! Let's go do more training! You're almost done with the first half of your training before your first assignment!" He said excitedly, grabbing at Izaya's sweater and pulling him toward the door.

"But I didn't get to enter anything into my computer yet.." Izaya muttered remembering Kunikida's words about keeping up with paperwork. Dazai scoffed, hugging Izaya again as he replied,"I never do my paperwork~ Nothing has happened to me yet!"

"SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN TO YOU IF YOU DON'T DO IT SOON, DIPSHIT!" Kunikada suddenly screeched towards his partner, throwing a book at him and making Dazai squeak and run towards the door, dragging a bewildered Izaya with him.

Manami watched them as they passed by her in the hall, her eyes narrowing towards Izaya in anger. "Fucker.." She muttered, walking into the offices with annoyance.

She passed a grumbling Kunikida, and was about to slam her breifcase on her desk when she saw the plate. Her eyes widened slightly behind their lenses, as she picked it up and examined it. The chappy patterned plate would have seemed as good as new if you couldn't see the cracks from where it broke. _He fixed it..?_ She thought in confusion, wondering why he would go out of his way to do something.. Nice for her. _Is this a trick?_

"You know, you could give him a chance," Kine said from behind her, making her swing around in surprise. Manami looked up at him, and frowned, crossing her arms. "Why should I, after everything he did to me?" She demanded angrily.

Kine looked at the plate, and then continued,"I spoke with him yesterday, before we went back to our apartment. We had coffee together. Manami, he remembered our names, but he had no idea who were were or how he knew us. He barley remembers anything. He doesn't remember what he did to you"

Manami looked at the plate again, before roughly placing it on her desk. "That's no excuse, it's still Izaya," She told him firmly,"He could be tricking us for all we now"

"For what it's worth, I think he's telling the truth," Kine said calmly, before walking to his own desk. Manami didn't know what to say.. Kine trusted Izaya, and he didn't before the raven got shot. Maybe she.. _NO!_ No, he was a liar, a creep, and a manipulative bastard. She couldn't trust him. She couldn't let herself trust him.

If she was hurt any more, she wouldn't make it far.

– – – – – –

"So, we're going to be talking about something important right now, okay?" Dazai told Izaya simply, now in the weapons room with the 24 year old. "All of us have our own style of fighting most of us prefer not to use the.. Louder and more violent equipment. But it's still a good idea to know how to use them," He explained.

He slid open a metal sliding door, revealing a large amount of guns. Ranging from large, small, long, and wide. Izaya blinked in surprise, releasing a whistle. "That's a lot of guns.. Are those even legal?" He softly questioned, pointing to the large RPG's.

Dazai grinned, winking and holding a finger to his lips. "Government agents don't kiss and tell, Izzy," He teased, before grabbing one of the larger guns.

"Um.. Dazai-"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!" Dazai excitedly said,"These guns are my favorite!" Izaya backed away slightly, not trustful of the skinny male's ability to hold such a large gun, it was at least five feet long.

Kunikida had walked by the doorway, holding a stack of papers, when he saw what was happening. "Whoa! Dazai! You dumbass!" He yelled, dropping the papers onto a nightstand nearby and running in.

"You idiot! What are you doing?!" He yelled, yanking the gun away from Dazai, then glaring at Izaya. "What was he doing?!"

Izaya shrugged. "Teaching a trainee how to handle guns in the most unsafe ways possible," He said bluntly, causing Dazai to gasp at the betrayal.

Kunikida huffed, before placing the large firearm back on rack. The brunette man then turned and cuffed Dazai hard on the back of the head. "Dumbass! This is why Taichou doesn't let you teach the new trainees!" He snapped, making Dazai pout.

"Here, let's start somewhere sensible," Kunikida continued, calming himself down. He reached to the handguns on the shelves, grabbing one of them and putting the safety on. He then grabbed Izaya's wrist, placing it in his hand. The man's lone crimson eye turned to look at the gun quietly.

Dazai smiled, clapping his hands together. "Alright! Now we can start! The gun you're holding right now is a 9×19mm Walther P99, German semi-automatic pistol.. When you use it, it uses the energy of one shot to reload the next and.." Dazai's voice trailed off suddenly, as he realized that Izaya was shaking.

"I-Izzy?" He asked worriedly. Izaya's lone crimson eye was staring at the handgun in his hand, wide and glazed. The second he saw the gun, his breathing began to pick up, the world fading away around him.

 _Izaya suddenly wasn't in the weapons room anymore. He was in the streets, there were people all around him. His arms and his stomach throbbed, was this what pain was supposed to feel like?_

 _He looked up, there was someone there. Their face was blurry, but they had a handgun on Izaya as another faceless creature watched from behind. They were going to shoot him. He was going to die.._

" _Izzy?"_

 _He's going to die._

"Izzy?!"

 _He's going to die!_

"Izzy!" 

_**He's going to die!**_

"IZAYA!"

Suddenly, a hand slammed down on Izaya's shoulder, shaking him from his horrifying flashback. Izaya shook his head violently, before looking at the handgun in his hand. Releasing a clipped breath, Izaya opened his hand, allowing the gun to drop onto the carpet below them. The raven backed away from it, slamming into the metal lockers behind him.

"No.. No no no no.." Izaya stuttered,"P-please.. D-don't make me t-touch it.." Izaya's body was shaking, his heart beating so fast it sounded like someone was banging a drum in his ears. He was so afraid..

Out of his crimson eye, a lone tear crawled down his cheek. It dangled on his chin for a moment, before falling down to the carpet below, along with the gun.

Kunikida could see what was happening, as he quickly said,"You don't have to touch the gun, Izzy, come on, let's go outside, it's okay now, okay?" Izaya's eye remained glazed over, but he managed to nod, clutching to the side of his senpai's tan jacket. Kunikida led the traumatized male out of the room.

Once they were outside of the room, the knot that was in Izaya's chest seemed to loosen, as he leaned against the wall and hugged himself. It took Izaya several deep breaths to calm down, as several others peeked out of the offices to see what was going on.

"I'm gonna go to my desk now.." He stuttered out, before moving quickly down the hall. Kunikida knew the male was supposed to finish his training today to take his first assignment, but after something stressful like that, the poor kid deserved a break.

– – – – – –

Kine heard the commotion, and wasn't sure what to think when the supposedly fearless informant broker he once knew stumbled in, looking terrified. Nobody else was in the offices except him and Manami, so he felt no shame when he asked,"Are you okay?" 

"I.. I don't know.." Izaya stuttered out,"I was just.. I was fine looking at it.. But as soon as they put the h-h.. The thing in my hand.. I was so scared.."

Kine knew why, it was pretty obvious if you thought about it for a moment. "Well, just go sit down, do something to take your mind off of it, okay?" He suggested. Izaya nodded, a little more focus coming into his eyes as he walked back to his desk.

Manami watched him in surprise. It was strange to see Izaya scared, even when he was tricking people he never showed emotions such as fear or concern, and she worked with him long enough to figure that out. He was remembering when that Russian woman shot him, he was having flashbacks? So Izaya was actually capable of fear and weakness.

 _Pfft.. That doesn't mean he's any different.._

Though she said that, there was now a growing sense of doubt in herself. Kine trusted Izaya, her coworker trusted Izaya. She knew why she was holding herself back.. She couldn't just disregard that part of their past though.. She needed more time.

– – – – – –

Things settled down after that, and the day went on as usual.

Izaya finished all the work he could possibly do and was preparing to head home. "Goodbye Kine-senpai, Manami-senpai," He called to them, getting a response from both surprisingly. He almost smiled, before walking out of the offices.

He changed back into his other clothes, and began to jog home. Looking up at the sky for a moment, he frowned. _It's starting to get_ _dark and_ _cloudy.._ He thought. _It looks like it might rain.. I hope that Inu-chan found a place to stay._

Oh, he had nearly forgotten about going and getting the dog some food. He wasn't sure, what did dogs like to eat? He was on a low budget at the moment, but he could probably get a pork bun or something and give the dog the inside of it. So, he stopped his run, and went towards the nearest convince store.

He jogged back towards the back, slowing down again and trying to see the dog through the rain. The dog barked at him before, but now he heard nothing. "Inu-chan?" He called out softly, when he heard a terrified howl.

Izaya frowned, and jogged over to the corners of the park. "Inu-chan?" He called, and heard something clinking. There was the clicking of paws against the ground, and saw a figure coming towards him. It was the dog, whom now had cans tied to her legs, and seemed to have many cuts on her poor body. She whimpered, hiding behind Izaya.

Following quickly behind her was three young kids, and Izaya glared at them. "What's going on? Why are you tormenting this animal?" He demanded, crossing his arms.

The kids froze, one dropping the switchblade they were holding. "I don't see why it's any of your business, dude," The taller kid said.

"Actually, it is my business," Izaya declared, pulling out his badge. "Japan's main animal welfare law is the 1973 Act on Welfare and Management of law makes it a crime to kill, injure, or inflict cruelty on animals without due cause, The penalty for killing or injuring an animal in this category is a fine or imprisonment up to one year; abandonment and cruelty by neglect are punishable with fines"

He looked the boys up and down. "I see no injuries on you, and considering one of you was holding a bloody knife, I have reason to believe you were hurting this dog for no reason. I will, however, let you off with a warning if you walk away right now. If not, I'll show you what happens when you pick on someone your own size," He warned.

The three teens said nothing, before turning and running away. Izaya waited until they were out of sight, before turning and kneel, untying the cans around the dog's paws. The pitbull whimpered thankfully, before licking Izaya's cheek.

"Inu-chan, the vet is closed right now, so how about I take you home with me?" He asked softly,"My home is close, and I have bandages"

The dog didn't reply of course, but nuzzled against Izaya. So, the raven picked the dog up and carried her towards his home. The rain had started to come down just as they got to his apartment, and he placed the dog down and opened the door.

He pushed some boxes out of the way, making room for both of them as he bandaged the dog' wounds. "I don't understand how some people can hurt innocent people.." He told the dog softly, while taping down the wrappings around the pitbull's leg.

"But then again, with my apparent bad past, who am I to judge?" He honestly asked, placing the bandages down. He smiled at the dog, before holding out his hands. "Hey look, we match," Izaya told the dog.

He turned around, pulling a pork bun from the bag he had gotten, and unfolding the bread. He pulled the pork filling out, and held it in one hand to the dog. The pitbull gratefully accepted the food, gobbling it down happily. "Though, we both got our injuries differently," He told her,"I would tell you, but all I know is they got broken, and now I constantly need reinforcement around them just in case. Hence the bandages"

The dog tilted her head, and stared at him curiously. "Of course, not knowing anything is rather painful too.. I know I seem rather apathetic, but not having any memories of friends or family is hard. I'm lonely.. There isn't anyone to talk to, and it seems the only people whom I have found from my old life distrust me. It seems I was not a good person, so that makes it even worse.. But you wouldn't understand that, would you?"

The dog whined, bringing herself closer and licking his cheek. "Ah, of course you would," He realized,"You are a hated dog breed, though you yourself don't understand why that is. It's truly unfair, isn't it, Inu-chan?" As if understanding his words, the dog lied her head on his stomach, clinging as close to him as he possibly could.

"Don't worry Inu-chan," Izaya said softly,"I may not understand emotions so well myself, but I will take care of you from now on, okay?"

The dog opened her mouth, tongue lolling out as her tail wagged behind her happily. She then buried her face into his stomach, giving a rough bark of agreement. Izaya smiled again, and put an arm around the dog's neck, petting her calmly. He found himself feeling extremely relaxed at being with another form of life, and listening to the sound of the rain on his balcony. Soon, he followed his new companion into a peaceful slumber.

– – – – – –

"Bastard.. Ditched me on purpose.."

Manami grumbled, her umbrella over her head as she walked towards her apartment complex, an extra key now on her chappy keychain. It was the key to Izaya's apartment. No, she didn't want to try and kill him anymore, Kunikida was actually the one to give it to them.

 _"Hey, could you guys please check on Izaya for us?" He asked them hopefully,"After what happened in the weapons room, I was worried that he might have gone into shock after that. When one of you leave, could you go check on him?"_

 _Kine seemed to be trying to make some secret plan of his succeed, as he quickly replied,"Manami can do it, I have to stay behind for a while and file paperwork from our last mission" He tossed the key onto her desk, before getting up and lazily walking out of the room. Manami sent him a glare, but any protest she wanted to make was null and void, as he was already gone._

Manami looked at Izaya's apartment door, before using the key to unlock it. She was tempted to slam it open, but even she wasn't cruel enough to try and scare someone who seemed to have PTSD, especially if it was related to him getting shot like they believed.

The light next to the apartment door was the only thing giving her light into Izaya's apartment. She looked around, and noticed a lump around where most of the boxes were. She stepped into the genkan, not wanting to go much farther than that. She felt around with her hand, before finding the light switch and turning it on.

She now could see Izaya and.. A dog? They were.. Cuddling?

Izaya was showing affection to a living thing?

Izaya's long hair was still in it's braid, an arm around the dog's neck as the dog cuddled against his stomach, slightly bloody bandages around it's legs and other parts of it's body. Manami frowned, he had rescued an animal? That's the only thing she could think of with the information in front of her.

She wanted to accuse him of something bad, but..

Her heart began to hurt again..

Angrily, she shut the light back off, and left the apartment as fast as she could. She shut the door quietly, trying not to let Izaya know she had been there.

Manami placed her back against the wall, and stared out at the rain hitting the roads and the par nearby. She brought one hand up to her mouth, trying to muffle her sobs as tears fell down her cheeks, being highlighted by the flashing lightning. "Stop it.." She whispered quietly.

Her legs shook, and she slid down the door, sniffling sadly. She whimpered, pulling her legs to her chest and hiding her face in her knees, tears dropping into her lap."Please.. Stop it.."

"Stop making it so hard for me to hate you.."


	5. Chapter 5

_**So, I guess since this still seems to be a problem, lemme explain. This is NOT a crossover with Bungo Stray Dogs. It's just supposed to be a funny cameo, though they will be recurring/main characters. That means they don't have their abilities, they are just normal people, and so is Izaya.**_

 _ **Sorry if I wasn't clear enough with that ^_^''**_

– – – – – –

Two Months Later

– – – – – –

Izaya felt an emotion building up n his chest as he gathered his things together. Today was an exciting day for him, today was going to be his first assignment. If he passed it, he would become a Rank 1 investigator in the Armed Detective Company, instead of just being a 'trainee'. He had officially finished his training last week, and was prepared for whatever his superiors were going to throw at him to test him, no matter how tough.

Changing into his usual workout clothes, Izaya examined himself. He was finally unable to see his ribs anymore, though he still had a rather lean figure. Though he had the definition and a flat stomach, it seemed that no matter what he did, his figure remained rather feminine. It didn't help that his hair was now past his waist, wavy and silky. He didn't want to cut it though, he liked it long. To get it out of the way, he merely braided it. Then, he gathered his things and headed out of the bathroom.

Sitting in the kitchen, and eating her food happily, was his dog. She looked up at him excitedly as he walked in, before waddling over to greet him. Over the two months since he had rescued her, she had filled out to a healthy size. She was wearing an adorable pink bandana around her neck, with her pink collar and dog tags underneath it.

"I'm going to work now, okay Mimi-chan?" Izaya said softly, petting the dog's head. "I may be later than usual, so Kunikida-senpai may come and feed you if I don't get back at the normal time. You'd better eat it all, okay? You're eating for seven now, remember?"

Mimi merely nuzzled his hand, tail thumping on the ground happily. Yes, Mimi was pregnant, Izaya remembered the day he found out well, mainly because he didn't realize that the pitbull was actually pregnant at all.

He'd never had a dog before, his memories only went so far back. So, when her stomach started to grow larger, he felt a type of fear he didn't understand. It wasn't the constricting, petrifying terror he had felt while he was holding the handgun. It felt more.. Personal? Possessive? He just couldn't seem to find a name for what he was feeling.

Nonetheless, he took her to a vet as soon as possible. Thankfully, he was just overreacting, there was nothing wrong with her. The vet simply explained that she was having puppies, and Izaya felt suddenly excited. Not only did he save Mimi's life, as those kids probably would have left her to die, he had saved six puppies, six new lives as well.

Izaya's heart swelled, he really liked saving people.

Once he arrived at the agency, he changed into his normal outfit, before walking towards the offices. A younger, more recent recruit named Shouyou, followed after him excitedly. "Senpai, are you excited for your first assignment?" His brown eyes looked up at Izaya with curiosity,

"I'm looking forward to it," Izaya replied in his usual, relaxed tone,"Though, I'm sure they're starting me off on something simple"

Shouyou huffed, his orange locks bouncing. "At least you get to do something! I'm so bored with the training.. I want to go on missions!" He said loudly.

Izaya raised his eyebrows. "But you need your training, Shouyou-kun, what if something were to happen while you were on a mission and you didn't know what to do? Even if it takes longer for you to start missions, at least you'll be able to keep yourself safe, ne?" Izaya pointed out, never losing his calm, composed demeanor.

Shouyou opened his mouth to argue, before closing it and huffing. "You're right senpai.." He grumbled, before perking up again. "I'm gonna go train now! That way I can be closer to my first mission, bye senpai!"

He skipped down the hall, bounding away happily. Izaya watched him go, feeling slightly amused. Despite Shouyou's innocent personality, he was far from weak. Shouyou had actually been a captive of the Yakuza for two years, before being rescued and rehabilitated. Then, he decided that he wanted to fight against the underground, and joined the Agency. Though, the longer Izaya stayed, the more he realized that nobody in the detective agency came from a peaceful background.

Dazai used to work for the mafia, but defected after the death of a close friend. Kunikida used to be a simple math teacher, but after losing his wife and oldest child to a shooting, he wanted to be something more, and be able to protect his 3 year old son. Kine, as he revealed to Izaya, used to work for the Awakusu, but switched sides for his own reasons. Then, of course, there was Izaya himself, who apparently bad enough that someone wanted to kill him. Then, after managing to survive a year long coma, he woke up with no memories except flashes and his name.

Yes, they were all truly fucked in some way, Kunikida had told him, but they were strong because of it, and all of them knew what pain felt like. It was what made them so strong. Together, they were the Armed Detective Agency.

"Izaya! Finally!" Dazai called out happily, seeing Izaya walk into the offices. "The boss was just getting you your assignment!"

Their boss was a formidable man, 6'8" in height, with shoulder length silver hair, and sharp black eyes. He usually wore traditional yukatas around the agency, which was okay, since it was seen as professional clothing. (Though even if it wasn't, nobody was about to argue with him, he was the best agent in the agency, after all)

Izaya looked up his boss calmly, before bowing. "Sir," He said, before standing back up.

His boss nodded at the polite raven, before he replied,"Izaya, this is your first assignment, I expect you to do well. Though, we usually have trainees take their first assignments alone, we usually only have one trainee ready to take the test at a time. But now we have two, so you will be partnered up with Manami for this assignment"

 _Uh-oh._

Manami and Izaya instantly exchanged a gaze. Izaya's eye showed apprehension, while Manami's expression was one that promised death. She slammed her palms on the desk, before walking over and standing next to Izaya.

 _At least she didn't punch me this time.._ Izaya thought, before taking the document from their boss. He examined it, his one red eye flying over the paper as Manami leaned over to stare at it as well. In the file was two papers, each two teachers, whom had information listed under them.

"Your assignment is to find which of these two men has been making deals around the school to pay his debts to the mafia. He has been giving them innocent students, and apparently using the school's money to try and free himself from his debts. We do not want to show the mafia was are coming after them again, which is why you are not trying to apprehend them from a crime scene, but on a normal day," He said.

Pointing to the file, he continued,"You both are to interview these men, and find the perpetrator. If they resist, use what means you have to to subdue them. Killing is only in an emergency, understand?"

"Understood, sir," The trainees chorused.

About an hour later, Manami and Izaya found themselves in front of Mitsuhashi University. They had been given some radios, and some handcuffs as well. Manami was trying to hide her frustration, why did her first assignment have to be with him?!

She was still trying to work out how to feel about Izaya, but she knew that, for this assignment at least, they had to work together so they'd actually be able to get ranked up.

The University knew they were coming, they were the ones who had reported the incidents after all, so when Izaya and Manami showed their badges, they were let in by security.

Not wanting to be around Izaya for very long, Manami said,"We should split up, we can talk to them at the same time and get it over with"

"That would not work, Manami-senpai," Izaya replied calmly,"We were specifically told not to interrupt the flow of the classrooms, the second suspect is still teaching. We shouldn't argue over this, we need to speak to the first suspect while we still can"

Manami felt her teeth grind together, before nodding simply. "Fine, whatever," She grumbled, and walked briskly away, making Izaya have to catch up with her.

They checked everywhere, they really did, but they couldn't seem to find the suspect anywhere. It didn't make sense.. They had been told that he had come into work today, but according to coworkers, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Strange.." Izaya muttered suspiciously, before opening the file and stopping a nearby teacher. "Excuse me, sir, have you seen this man?" He asked, showing the second suspects photo.

The man frowned, before saying,"Shion-san? He wasn't here today, called me to tell me he wouldn't be in" The man walked away, and Izaya and Manami exchanged a look.

They had been told by the University staff that he was in the middle of teaching a class.. Though maybe there could have been a mix-up, it felt wrong to the two detectives. How in the world were two supposedly unrelated suspects just 'out' on the same day?

"This is bullshit, something is definitely going on," Manami said aloud, not really speaking to anyone in particular. "All of it seems.. Just too simple"

Izaya opened his mouth to respond, when he suddenly heard a scream. Then, the sound of gunshots rang through the campus. Manami gasped, and then ran towards a window. She couldn't see any person shooting, but tons of students running out of the campus. She turned back around, reaching for her gun. "Izaya, we have to go down and-" 

_**BOOM!**_

The two shrieked in surprise as the floor in between them erupted, the floor crumbling. Manami stumbled back, but the floor broke underneath her. With a cry, Manami fell through the cloud of debris onto the lower floor.

She stumbled, moving out of the way as more rubble fell down. "Manami!" Izaya called out, standing at the edge of the debris.

Manami looked up at him, her body sore from landing on the ground. "Don't come down!" She yelled,"There's still people up there!"

"I'll do what I can, you need to try and find the shooter while I do," He told her, before taking off, out of Manami's sight.

How did their simple assignment suddenly change into something like this? Manami went to grab her weapon-

Wait.. Where was her gun?!

"Shit," She muttered, looking around her. She groaned, rolling over and beginning to dig through the rubble. Where was her gun?! Panic was gripping her, how was she going to apprehend a shooter with no gun?

Thankfully, she found it, yanking it out. "Oh thank goodness," She muttered. Just then, she heard a gun going off nearby. There was a pained yell, and Manami stood up, wincing slightly. The noise was coming close, and she ducked into a nearby room.

She looked around the room she had ducked in, nobody was in it, she was alone. Manami then brought her gun to her chest, and moved closer to the doorway. She poked her head out, only to gasp and jerk her head back in as bullets raced past her, hitting the wall and shattering a potted plant.

Though she only looked for a second, she saw who the shooter was. It was Shion, one of the two suspects. With this in mind, she brought the radio to her mouth quickly.

"Izaya, 10-10, I've engaged Shion, he has an assault rifle. He has to have an accomplice, it may be the other suspect. Get everyone out of there somehow! Code 147!" She told him.

She didn't have time to wait for a response, as she turned and tried to see where Shion was, but he was right in her face. Out of reflex, Manami punched him. Shion cried out, not dropping his gun, but stumbling.

Manami ran forward, tackling the man down and grabbing the gun. They grappled, Manami trying to grab the gun and Shion fighting to keep it. The gun shot out violently, Shion pulling the trigger to try and scare Manami.

"Ack!" She cried out, pain suddenly flashing through her shoulder. She was lucky to not be shot somewhere else, like her stomach or chest. However, Shion hadn't been hit at all. He kicked her down, standing over her and pressing the gun to her face, about to shoot-

 _ **BOOM!**_

Another shuddering explosion went off above them, the floor falling out and large amounts of debris crashing down on both of them. Shion, suddenly panicked, took off down the hall, forgetting about finishing off the job.

Manami took a few moments, suddenly disoriented, but then got up, looking at whee Shion had run to. He ran into the auditorium, and Manami ran after him, grabbing her gun and making chase. She couldn't let him get away.

– – – – – –

When Izaya split up from Manami, he ran around the second story, trying to find any more students, gashes on his cheek and chest from when he was thrown back. He heard sobbing, and ran over quickly.

On the ground was a brown haired man, probably 3-4 years older than Izaya, clutching to his chest and coughing up blood. Above him was a student with darker hair, who was panicking. When he heard Izaya, he turned and screamed.

"Kid, calm down," Izaya ordered, using his calm aura to try and help them. He showed them his badge,"I'm a detective, I'm here to help you escape, what's your names?" 

"Takahashi M-Misaki.. And Kamijou Hiroki.." The kid explained, making Izaya jolt slightly, but he needed to be quick.

He went to look at Hiroki, seeing no blood underneath him. He realized the bullet had not gone all the way through, but there may be internal injuries. They could not go any farther until they made sure the male wouldn't bleed out.

Izaya took the bandages off his own hands, and then made the man sit up. He cried out, coughing loudly, blood spurting onto Izaya.

The raven took a wad of bandages and pressed it down hard on the wound, causing more cries, before wrapping the wad down. "We need to keep pressure, usually we'd want you to lay down, but there is already one explosion, we need to get out of here as soon as possible, there are bombs and guns," He explained.

"Misaki, help me carry him, we need to make sure he doesn't choke, but also don't jostle him too much," He ordered them.

Misaki and Izaya were carrying Hiroki the best they could, when the door slammed open, and a group of five people, four students and one teacher, ran through.

"Hey! Stay with me!" Izaya ordered,"We need to get down safely, and if there is a shooter, I will protect you"

The black haired teacher saw Hiroki, and gasped, before moving forward and taking the man into his arms easily, letting the detective get in front of them safely.

"Please keep him as still as possible, don't jostle him," He ordered, before grabbing at his weapons and moving forward. There didn't seem to be anyone nearby, but then he heard noise below them.

 _"Izaya, 10-10, I've engaged Shion, he has an assault rifle. He has to have an accomplice, it may be the other suspect. Get everyone out of there somehow! Code 127!"_ His radio screamed out.

"What's code 147?" The blonde student asked worriedly, Izaya looked over, feeling fear for his partner. "Code 147 is 'suspect armed'," He said firmly.

People were beginning to panic, and Izaya yelled,"Everyone calm down! You, where is the exit? You all need to get off this floor, in case there's another explosion!"

He turned and grabbed at the door nearby, turning the knob. Then, he heard a click, and a ding. The door was rigged to a bomb. Izaya had just pulled it. If he let go of the door or closed it, the bomb would go off.

"Everyone back up!" Izaya ordered,"There's a bomb behind the door" He pulled out his knife with his free hand, using the metal end of it to break the glass on the door, glass cutting is hand. He needed to use something to block the knob from turning back up, even if it was only for a few seconds.

Izaya reached into his hair, pulling out the bobby pin that was keeping his bangs up, which fell into his face. He shakily leaned into the broken glass, slowly inserting the bobby pin. He looked back, seeing the people he was protecting were far enough away.. He let go and ran.

 _ **BOOM!**_

He flew forward, crashing to the ground hard. Suddenly, he lost the ability to move his left arm, the unbandaged one. Shit, he broke his arm.

"Detective-san! Are you alright?!" The blonde asked, seeing the weird angle Izaya's arm was on. Izaya nodded, it didn't even hurt, but he was more fearful about what to do now. Suddenly, Hiroki stated to panic.

"I don't wanna die!" He cried, and Izaya quickly moved forward, his right hand against Hiroki's cheek.

Gently, Izaya whispered,"Shh.. It's okay Hiroki-san.. You'll be with Nowaki again soon, I'll get you out safely"

"N-Nowaki?" Hiroki stuttered drowsily,"How did you know.."

"Stay awake Hiroki-san, I'll tell you the story once we get out of here, okay?" He asked, and Hiroki nodded.

He led them to the stairs, and then took them as close as he could to the front. "Quick, run! If there is no ambulance, call one!" He ordered, watching them as they ran out of the university, not being attacked.

Izaya heard gunshots inside, and gasped. _Manami!_ He turned, running towards where he heard the gunshots from. The auditorium.

– – – – – –

 _Shit shit shit!_ Manami thought in fear, as Shion shot at her more, and she dove behind a row of chairs. It was dark, the only light coming from the projector that was still on. Manami moved up, and shot at Shion, panting in fear.

Shion ducked behind as well, shooting back. Manami ducked back down, before moving to the side and going to shoot.

 _Click, click, click_

She was out of bullets?!

And now he knew it too

Manami felt fear grip her stomach, and clutched at her chest. Shion didn't do anything for a moment, before beginning to walk forward, towards Manami. Oh god- She was going to be killed, he was going to kill her!

The door suddenly slammed open. "Manami!" It was Izaya!

Shion turned, shooting at Izaya, who threw himself to the floor before he could get shot. Manami got up as fast as she could, before body slamming Shion. He fell, hitting the wooden corner of a desk, and not getting up.

Manami panted, before grabbing a pair of handcuffs and making sure the man was restrained, grabbing the gun.

They ran out of the auditorium, looking for more people. Then, there were more gunshots, the two detectives turned, and suddenly Manami was slammed against a wall.

Manami went into her pocket, pulling out her taser and using it on the man. He screamed, falling to the ground, dropping his hand gun. She backed up, standing in front of the double door exit and panting.

Izaya saw something, out of the corner of his eye, and realized there was someone running towards them, an assault rifle aimed, ready to shoot. Manami didn't see him!

"Manami-senpai! Look out!"

 _BANG!_

– – – – – –

.. .. ..

She wasn't dead..?

Manami opened her eyes, and turned to look at the shooter. They had dropped their gun, staring at Manami, as red blood spread down their chest. They fell to their knees, before falling to the floor face first.

In shock, Manami turned to look at Izaya. He was standing there, the handgun that had fallen now in his hand, aiming where the shooter had been standing before. His hand was shaking, red eye wide, and Manami suddenly realized what had happened.

Izaya saved her life.

Police sirens showed up behind them, as Izaya lowered his hand, staring at the gun in awe. Manami didn't know what to do, before they heard familiar voices.

"Izaya! Manami!" It was Kine, who came over to them. He gently pried the gun from Izaya's shaking hand, and took Manami's hand, leading them like a concerned brother to the ambulance.

They sat there, and Manami found herself staring at Izaya differently than normal. He had calmed down once more, and was back to his relaxed self, despite his broken arm. He then stood up, walking inside the ambulance and standing next to the man on the gurney.

"Hiroki, I told you that you were gonna be okay, didn't I?" He asked, helping calm the panicking man, and Hiroki gave a weak smile back.

Izaya's voice was gentle, his eyes soft, he was so different, but Manami hadn't been able to see it because of her jaded views. She felt so confused, and fell into her own thoughts, and remained in them all the way to the hospital.

– – – – – –

Izaya was thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day, with Nowaki coming and telling him that Hiroki was going to live, and thanking Izaya thoroughly, telling him he could never repay him. Izaya then told Nowaki that he didn't need to repay him, because Nowaki was the one who saved him while he was in the coma. He had been invited by Nowaki to come and hang out with them one day, once everyone was healed, and he agreed.

But that was not the main thing Izaya was worried about right now, he was thinking about Manami more. She had been injured too, and Izaya wanted to make sure she was okay. His left arm was now in a cast, it was very early, too early for visitors. Though, both of them were being released in a short while, Izaya felt a sudden need to check on her.

When he got to her room though, it was empty. He frowned, before trying to think of where she was, when it hit him, and he went to the elevator as fast as he could.

She was on the roof.

Manami was there, covered in bandages and dressed in a hospital robe. Izaya didn't say anything at first, the breeze blowing their hair to the right, the sounds of the city below them.

"You really are different.. You really don't remember me, do you?" She asked, and Izaya remained silent, staring at her still.

Manami turned to look at him. "I tried to hate you, I really did.. But you aren't.. You aren't him, you aren't the one who tricked me, and made me want to die.. Made me feel like a coward.."

 _..I did that?_ Izaya thought, disgusted by his old self.

"You aren't Izaya, and killing Izaya was the only reason I had to live," She whispered,"But now, _that_ Izaya is dead. I have no purpose anymore.."

She looked down at the ground below her, and Izaya frowned. "What do you mean?" He demanded,"Manami, there are so many reasons for you to live. What about Kine-senpai? Your job? The future?"

"None of that matters, people can move on, Izaya, nobody will care that I'm gone.." She whispered, and Izaya frowned.

"I will.. So will Kine-senpai," Izaya told her,"He was so protective of you when I first showed up, he wanted you to be happy, Manami, and so do I"

"If you want me to be happy, let me fucking jump, Izaya!"

Izaya stared, before shrugging his shoulders. "Okay," He said, then walked forward, going to the railing and climbing over it. Manami jerked up, looking at him confused. "W-what are you doing?!"

"I'm jumping with you," Izaya said simply,"If you're going to jump, I might as well as well" She looked panicked, and grabbed at his hand.

"N-no! You can't! Izaya! Think of everything you have to live for!" She begged, not realizing that she was repeating the same argument Izaya had just given her.

Izaya snorted,"Really? Things to live for? Manami, I'm an amnesiac who can't feel, both physically and almost mentally, I obviously was a bad person, so if I died nobody would care. And if you can't live in a world with me in it, I may as well be gone, that way you'll keep living"

He released his hold on the railing, and leaned back, beginning to fall. With a panicked yell, Manami grabbed his arm with her good hand, and yelled,"Stop it! Please!" 

Izaya did not respond, staring at her with one red eye, and allowing himself to be pulled back up. Manami was now crying, tears falling down her cheeks in a rapid fashion.

"I-I.. I can't hate you.." She whispered,"You aren't Izaya, he was evil, sadistic, and a monster. Y-You're Izzy.. You're sweet, brave, and loving. You used your second chance well, like Kine wanted.."

Izaya grabbed the railing again. "You must listen to yourself, Manami. You are not looking at yourself in the right light," He told her, climbing back onto the roof, standing in front of her so she couldn't jump. "You are so strong as well, even if you don't think so. You're not even a third of the way through your life, you have so much potential. Please, do not force yourself to do this, if you need to lean us, do so. You are amazing, Manami-chan, please, stay in the world.. I will be here with you, so will Kine, Dazai, Kunikida, the whole detective agency, you're never alone"

Manami sniffed, before moving forward and hugging Izaya. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing loudly into his chest. Izaya hugged her back firmly, being the pillar she needed to lean on. They needed each other in that moment, two damaged souls helping each other.

They stood there for a long while, both needing the comfort, both needing each other.

There was no hate between them anymore.

– – – – – –

A few hours later, they were released from the hospital. Kine was still at work, and Manami didn't want to be alone, so Izaya invited her to his place.

Manami sat on the couch, sniffing and wiping her eyes. She was still a little emotional, but she felt better than a few hours ago. It wasn't hard for her to believe that Izaya was the one who helped her anymore, because she know realized how different he was.

She sipped at the coffee he had given her, before blinking in surprise. "Did you make this?" She asked in surprise,"It's amazing!"

Izaya's eye widened, and he blushed red, before stuttering,"I.. Well.. It's just a recipe from Kanade-chan.."

"Can you bake too?" She asked softly, and Izaya blushed more and nodded,"Well then, I may have to try it sometime, I can't even boil water so.."

Izaya chuckled at her joke, before grabbing a can and filling a dog bowl, walking to his bedroom. When he got there, he saw Mimi was panting, and acting weird, unusual to how she normally did. It took Izaya a second, but then he realized what was going on.

"Manami-chan!" He called excitedly, running back to his living room, eyes alight with excitement. "Manami-chan! Mimi is about to have her puppies!"

Manami followed after him, helping him gather all the supplies needed to help, and sat down with Mimi. Izaya was gentle, using his hands to comfort Mimi as she gave birth. Six puppies came, and Mimi cleaned them, before bringing them to her belly.

Izaya examined the puppies as they stated drinking milk. Two of them looked like Mimi, though their spots were different. One of them was dark gray, though their chest and paws were white. Another was orange, with a one white spot over the same eye as their mothers. The final puppy was white with cream patterns, however it only had 3 legs, missing it's front right, though nothing seemed extremely wrong.

They were all beautiful.

Suddenly, Izaya felt tears coming from his one eyes, as he started to cry. He looked at Manami, smiling and then looking back at the puppies. "T-they're so amazing.. I.. I feel so happy right now," He whispered, looking over at her and growing a big grin.

Manami wondered how she ever managed to hate this adorable idiot, as she smiled back at him. "Izzy," She began, finally using his nickname,"You so emotional, you know that?" She then smiled at him, slinging her good arm over his shoulder.

Izaya stared at her for a moment, before smiling and leaning against her. "Yeah, I guess I am.." He admitted,"But I like it like that"

Manami nodded,"So do I"

Looking back at him, she teasingly asked,"So, should we celebrate their birth with some of your homemade sweets?"

Izaya grew a sly grin, and replied,"Manami-senpai, they're too young to eat solid foods" Manami gasped, before pushing him away playfully.

"Aw, come on! You know I'm taking about us, you smartass!" She whined, while Izaya giggled at his own joke.

They spent that day together, and so began what would turn out to be a lifelong friendship.

– – – – – –

"Congratulations you guys!"

Their comrades were clapping as Manami and Izaya were promoted, and given a medal from the city. Not only did they get promoted up an extra rank because of their bravery, but they also were both given medals for their bravery, and ability to save everyone in the university. So now, instead of being rank 1 Investigators, which was the highest class for junior investigators, they were First Class Investigators, which was the first of 3 ranks for Senior investigators.

They bowed to their boss happily, allowing the ceremony to finish before they rushed off to be with everyone. Kine looked at them, smiling, and nodding at Izaya in particular, in a way that said _'Thank you'_ Izaya nodded back, before Dazai came behind them and squealed. "Ahh~ You guys are so amazing! We should go out drinking to celebrate!"

"No, you're a lightweight! I always end up carrying your sorry ass home!" Kunikida grumbled angrily as he stalked by, hitting Izaya and Manami lightly on the tops of their heads as he passed. "Congrats," He said quickly, following Dazai toward the exit.

Shouyou gasped, brown eyes wide. "I wanna go out drinking too!" He said hopefully. Kine, in a very fatherly tone, said,"You can come with us, but you aren't drinking until you're legal age, Shou"

Toboi, Shouyou's fellow trainee, snorted and said,"I'll be sure to buy him a juice box" He took off quickly, while Shouyou gasped in betrayal and ran after his taller friend, their argument could be heard even after they left the room.

Kine walked over to them, and smiled. "Good job you guys," He said proudly, before asking,"You ready to go? I'll pay, or I'll make Dazai pay, this is a celebration for you guys, after all"

Manami looked at the raven next to her. "What do you think, partner? Should we brave it?" She asked, and Izaya smiled, bring his arm to rub the back of his neck.

"Well, neither of us have a car, so we won't be the ones to have to drive him home," Izaya pointed out,"Plus, they're treating us"

Izaya and Manami nodded, while Kine smiled. It was nice to see them getting along, now they could all be friends together.

"Okay then, let's go, before Dazai challenges Kunikida to some stupid drinking game," Kine said, worried that they might already be too late.

The three walked out into the world, not as enemies of the past, but as friends of the present. Kine felt no hatred, Manami felt no pain, and Izaya felt no sadness.

Everything was balanced, everyone was happy.

Their world was perfect.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Whoo! Another chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it! Hmm.. Y'know I have been reading Fairy Tail again, and I think I may actually get off my lazy ass and write those stories again after I update this (And probably Change of Heart). So there's something to look forward too! However, I'll probably rewrite them all because they make me cringe at my younger self XD Okay, anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that this is the last chapter before the reunion begins! So there's something else to look forward to!**_

 _ **For anyone interested, I began writing this on 4/28/2017, and I'm going to bet it'll be around the same length or longer than chapter 4 of Kintsugi XD**_

 _ **Also, a note for people questioning my deviation between calling them 'agents' and 'detectives', to the outside world they are merely a detective agency. They take many detective-like jobs to keep up this rouse, but on the inside they work for the government and keep their country safe. You will only see the word agent used by people inside the agency or who work for it, like Dazai, Izaya, etc. People like Kanade and future characters will not know about the inside work, and therefore use the term 'detective'**_

 _ **Special thanks to GateBreaker and Alex for helping me construct this chapter~! You are both awesome, you manage to listen to my constant rambling no matter what XD**_

 _ **I'll stop talking now, enjoy~!**_

 _ **(Author's Note Upon Completion 5/21/17: OKAY I DID NOT EXPECT THIS TO GET AS LONG AS IT HAS TURNED OUT TO BE, IT'S LIKE 53 PAGES HOLY SHIT, BUT ENJOY ANYWAYS!)**_

– – – – – –

Izaya had known from the beginning that something bad was going to happen, he had pushed those feelings away though, and gone to work without saying anything. What a foolish thing for him to do, he was so stupid.

They had gotten a lead on a man, a dangerous man. He was supposedly delivering a large cargo of something, and that something could be very dangerous if it was what the agency believed it to be. They'd sent Izaya on his motorcycle and Manami in her car to follow, close but discretely enough to hopefully not be seen.

It seemed that luck was not on their side, as the man noticed that he was being followed. He floored it, taking off down the highway. Manami and Izaya turned on their sirens took off after him, much more collected than the panicked man.

Izaya filtered past cars, though there weren't many on the road in the middle of the morning, they still needed to be careful around civilians. He pulled up to the window, the man doing a double take as he realized Izaya was there. He pulled out a gun, shooting through the glass and at Izaya. Izaya pulled back just as the gun came out, the shots barely missing him.

Izaya's firearm now showed up in his hand, as he slowed down, shooting at one of the back tires. The pressurized air exploded, and the rubber fell off. The driver swerved, but kept driving, sparks now flying. The rubber flew off, crashing into Manami's windshield. She cried out in surprise, slamming on the breaks.

"Keep going!" She snapped through their coms. "I'll catch up!" The young man nodded, speeding back off after the man. The sparks were making it hard for Izaya to get close again, but it would also mean that he could get shot. The man was unstable, Izaya just needed to get him away from the civilians.

Luckily, in this man's panicked state, he didn't notice he was driving up a scenic route. The road ended up on that mountain, over the shops and mall by the beach. He had trapped himself, and Izaya smiled in satisfaction, realizing he would soon put this man into government custody.

But the smile soon faded when he saw what the man was doing. He realized what route they went up, and he wasn't slowing down. He was speeding up.

It took Izaya too long to realize what the man was doing, but when he did, his heart sank with terror. He tried to speed up, tried to yell at him to stop, but he was too late.

The man plowed through the guardrail, the truck flying through and sending debris towards him. Izaya cried out, skidding to a stop to try and protect himself from flying metal, only to fall off of his bike and under it. He felt the earth rumble with the sound of an explosion, and screams below him.

Horror filled his mind at the sound of those screams, those innocent people's screams. He pushed the bike away, letting it skid on the ground. He stumbled to the side, seeing the plume of smoke and flames from what could only be bombs. It had hit the mall, he had been too late, too slow, he had failed..

Realizing there was still screams, he stumbled, running down the road and towards the city. He hopped over the guardrail further down, landing in the singed grass, and running to the burning mall. People were running away as fast as he could, but he saw no cops or firemen yet. Where were they?! What about the people inside?!

Without thinking, Izaya ran into the burning mall. He wasn't thinking about his own safety, he was just thinking of the people trapped in there. He needed to help them, he needed to save them. If no one else was going to, then he would.

If Izaya had time to think, he probably would have realized how foolish what he was doing was, he could not continue helping people if he was dead. But he didn't have time to think. He moved in, breathing hard and pulling aside some burning rubble.

He found a woman clutching her sobbing toddler, her eyes filling with a despeate look once he showed up. He pulled them out, rushing them to the front. He payed no heed to the fact his gloves had burned off, or the charring on his hands. He couldn't feel it anyways.

Running back, he shattered the glass of a small store, releasing a few more people that were trapped. They coughed, running away from the crumbling building as Izaya helped them out as fast as he could. His breath seemed to be shortening, like it was harder to breath, but he still had to get upstairs, people might be trapped!

He tried to run back in, seeing people on the second floor, they were screaming, they needed help. He tried to, but Manami grabbed him by his waist. "Izaya! Stop! The building will collapse! You can't help anyone if you're dead!"

Just as she said this, the building crumbled and fell. The plume of debris and dust that followed forced them to turn away, covering their faces the best they could. When the dust cleared, they stared at the debris in shock.

It didn't seem real, Manami let go of Izaya, sobbing in shock. Izaya terror, going to the debris and digging as fast as he could, sharp edges digging into his burned, charred hands. Despite the sweat dripping down his bloody, soot covered face, he still was trying to find them, the innocent lives he could have saved.

As he pulled aside a piece of rubble, he gasped, freezing as he came face to face with the empty, glassy, and dead eyes of a body. If he was a seasoned agent, this may not have fazed him. But Izaya was still new to this, even in the University shooting nobody died.

Seeing this face, this person's lifeless face, it made everything all too real. People had died, people who shouldn't have died. He wasn't able to prevent.

Dropping the now bloody piece of rubble from his hand, Izaya backed away, his one red eye shocked. Tears began to build up, as he fell to his knees, bringing his hands to his face and beginning to cry, to sob, to weep for the lives he failed to save.

It was all his fault.

– – – – – – –

The death count was over 100, they agency would later learn. They did not blame the agency for the deaths, nothing could have been done to prevent it. They had inconclusive information, they couldn't have known what was going to happen when they didn't know what the terrorists had. Nobody was to blame. However, the two agents involved didn't see it this way. The older agents foolishly forgot about how much a first failure or death on the job can impact a new agent, they had remembered too late.

Izaya and Manami were hit hard, it wasn't that hard to knock them down. Manami was still trying to fix her suicidal tendencies, to move her life away from when all she saw was hate and death. Izaya was a great agent, but also very innocent in his own right. He loved helping people, he hated seeing anything sad, especially since he was still trying to create memories to compensate the 24 years of memories he lost. To fail to protect people, even though there was nothing he could have done, nothing either of them could have done without putting more lives at risk.. They both were horrified at themselves.

The second they left the hospital, they closed off. Manami holed herself up in Izaya's apartment along with him, not leaving or answering phone calls. Their superiors did not push the issue, both needed physical and mental recovery time, their agent's stability was one of their most important priorities. The only thing they could really do was hope they'd accept help, and send the other agents to try.

For a few weeks, it didn't seem to work. Manami became a very hostile person, anytime anyone tried to get in the apartment, they returned with a bruise from where Manami threw something. Though Manami was hostile, Izaya became even more docile. He closed off, ignored everyone except Manami and his dogs.

Nothing was working, nobody knew how to help them recover when they didn't seem to know themselves. And it would remain this way..

Until someone finally seemed to notice their friend was missing.

– – – – – –

Kanade had been very worried. She knew being a detective was taxing work sometimes, but Izaya still always visited them often. Tsugumi and Kaoru adored when he visited, they loved him so much. She did as well, and for him to suddenly avoid them.. Had she done something wrong?

Unable to get anything out of others, she merely decided that she was going to figure it out her damn self. On a cool winter day, she walked to his apartment, using her spare key to get in. She was instantly surprised by the mess. In the times she had visited, the only things that tended to be even a little messy was Izaya's kitchen, from cooking, or the floor, with dog toys.

She frowned worriedly, her brown eyes looking around for the young man. He finally walked in the room, his hair messy and all over the place, with two dog bowls in hand. She couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her. His home may be a pigsty, but he still took care of his two dogs.

That noise caused the man to jump, dropping the empty bowls and turning to face her. "K-Kanade-chan?" He asked in surprise, pushing a tangled lock of hair out of his face. "What are you doing here?"

Kanade's gentle thoughts suddenly vanished, and anger filled her thoughts. "What am _I_ doing here?! Izaya, what happened here? Why haven't you visited?! The kids are worried that you don't like them anymore! Why aren't you taking care of yourself?!" She reached over, taking his heavily bandaged hands into her gentle ones.

"Did something happen?" She continued, her eyes filled with love and worry. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Izaya sighed softly, looking down at their hands for a moment, before nodding. "I know.." He admitted,"I just.. I was trying to deal with it on my own"

"Deal with what?" Kanade pressed further, looking up into his gentle red eye. Izaya sadly looked away, and for a moment.

With a sigh, Izaya finally explained. "The mall that was destroyed, I was there Kanny.." He used her nickname sadly,"I couldn't save everyone, I couldn't stop him in time, I really tried.."

Kanade breathed,"Oh Izzy.." She hugged him, burying herself against his lithe figure. "I'm.. I can't even imagine what it must feel like.. But I know you. I know you did everything you could, you always do, that's why I lo-.. I care about you so much"

Izaya made a noise of agreement, pressing his nose into her hair, breathing in her relaxing scent of coffee and icing. "I know, I'm fine.." A lie. "I'm not worried about myself, really, I'm worried about my partner.. Manami"

"She's having trouble with it more than me, she's lashing out on almost everything. I don't know how to help her.. I'm not sure she'd let me.. I think being around me reminds her of what happened.."

Kanade hummed against his chest, and they both went silent for a while. "I think I can try and talk to her," She suggested,"Just me and her, a girl's day talk. I know what it's like to lose someone, so maybe I can help her a bit? Or at least try?"

Izaya looked down at her, his one eye glowing hopefully. "Would you really do that for me?" He asked innocently, in his gentle, caring voice.

"Of course!" Kanade said excitedly, before giving him a smirk. "But you have to take me out to dinner in return, okay?"

The raven smirked at her attitude, before nodding gently. "Okay Kanny, deal," He said softly, and she smiled, already ideas were running through her head.

"Alright then, shoo!" She snapped, still fondly, pushing him towards his room. "You have to stay away while we do this, okay?"

Izaya smiled gently, nodding a bit, and heading to his room. He didn't feel okay enough to leave yet, so he merely flopped onto his bed, curling the covers around him and closing his eyes. He just needed some more sleep, then he'd be fine, he had to be..

As he fell asleep, he hoped that Kanade really did know what to do, because he was at a loss at this point.. Maybe she could help Manami smile again..

– – – – – –

Much to Manami's shock and annoyance, she had exited Izaya's bathroom to find a woman probably a year or two older than her wandering around. She was picking up things off the ground, and huffing, muttering under her breath in what could only be annoyance.

"Umm.. What the fuck are you doing in here?" She demanded, as the young woman turned around, smiling still. But as she turned around, Manami recognized her. Izaya was always hanging out with her, so much so that it may be called romantic if Izaya knew what romance was.

Kanade smiled, softly saying,"Someone had to check on you and Izzy when you suddenly vanish. I was worried, and then I get here and find out he isn't worried about himself, only about you"

Manami took this the wrong way, kneeling down to pick up a few pieces of trash. "Well I'm sorry for being such a fucking bother," She hissed.

"No! Not like that!" Kanade quickly reiterated," He wants you to feel better, so I'm here to help, I'm going to help you feel better!"

Manami glared suspiciously, before she slammed the trash into the trash can, and angrily snarled,"So what? You're like my.. Therapist or some shit?! Well guess what, I don't care if it starts eating me from the inside out. I don't wanna talk about it, and I'm NOT going to ever talk about it, not in this lifetime!" She angrily threw the pile on the couch onto the floor, flopping down and clutching at a throw pillow.

She heard the blonde haired woman give a gentle sigh, moving over and gently saying,"I'm not asking you to talk about it, I just want to help you feel better" Neither woman replied for a moment, Manami's face firmly buried her face in the couch. Then, Kanade continued,"And you know what always makes me feel better?"

Manami heard rustling, and looked up, seeing the girl holding up a cook book. "Cooking always helps me when I'm sad, then I can relieve stress and eat my feelings afterwards!" She explained happily.

Manami sat up a bit more. She was not that good of a cook, she can make small treats but most aren't exactly baked. But.. She'd always wanted to try..

Kanade saw her face and grinned, moving over to Izaya's cabinets and looking around. She then realized that Izaya's cabinets were running on empty. "Hmm.." She huffed,"Well, we can't cook here, there's nothing here.. Any ideas?"

"Um.. My apartment?" Manami shyly suggested, feeling hope spark in her stomach. Kanade then nodded, taking the girl's hand and heading out of the apartment. "Come on!" She said excitedly,"Let's go cook together! I'll teach you how to make my special coffee too!"

Manami looked at Kanade, and suddenly a smile crawled across her face. "Y-yeah!" Manami said,"Let's do it!" Kanade grinned again, as they left the apartment together in excitement. A warm feeling rose in the younger girl's chest.

Kanade was like a sister or best friend, something Manami never had. The smile grew bigger at that thought. For the first time in after weeks of nightmares and anger.. Manami finally felt happy again.

And this time, she wanted the feeling to stay.

– – – – – –

 _There seemed to be a never ending flurry of shadows around the man, his face obscured and the blonde locks seemed to be the only thing he could make out of all the strange people who stared at him, their faces and bodies black, people he could not see, people he could not remember._

 _The blonde moved forward, and Izaya felt fear, backing away. But the man got closer, and Izaya grew more sluggish. "S-stay away from me!" Izaya cried, his fear lacing through his heart._

 _The blonde grabbed his shirt with surprising strength, Izaya saw blood had pooled at the bottom of the man's feet. "L-let me go!" Izaya screamed to the blur, struggling and screaming._

 _ **"Die! Die!"**_ _The shadow's distorted voice screeched,_ _ **"Die die die! You fucking monster, why won't you just DIE?!"**_

 _He suddenly let go of Izaya, and he fell, the world spun around him, and he was falling, as he heard the sound of a loud gunshot, but he was still falling, screaming, flailing for anything to hang onto._

 _Suddenly, the shadow's voice cut through everything, as it whispered,_ _ **"Goodbye."**_

– – – – – –

Izaya's eyes snapped open, as he jerked awake in his bed with a shocked gasp, black hair falling into his face. His bandaged hand went to the side of his head, clutching to where his gunshot scar was, hidden by his hair, as his other hand went to the scar on his stomach.

His breathing calmed slowly, as he bought his shaky hands up and pulled his hair back. His milky, blind eye didn't even move, not that it could anymore, though his one working eye now darted around the room and looked around worriedly. But the shadows weren't there.. It was all a dream.. It always was.

He saw those people, their faces were missing, their voices were disturbing. He knew them from somewhere.. Why was he so afraid of them? How did he know them?!

He threw the covers back, looking at Mimi and Kaiyo, the three legged puppy he had kept for himself from her litter, before he walked away quickly. They followed after him, sensing their master's tension.

The raven changed into what he could find, and moved quickly towards his front door, when he was suddenly reminded of the promise Kanade gave to him… Where had she and Manami gone?

He suddenly heard the whirring of a machine and squeals through the wall, followed with an expletive and giggles. Unable to stop his curiosity, he wandered over, sneaking out of his apartment and opening Manami and Kine's door a crack.

Inside, he saw the girls, covered in flour and Manami holding a mixing bowl. They were both laughing hard, as Manami yelled,"I t-told you it was on too high of a speed!" She seemed to be struggling to speak through her giggles.

Kanade laughed as well, moving forward and turning on the mixer again, shoving it in the mixture and sending a plume of the flour around them. The girls squealed, giggling happily at their own fun. Izaya felt a sad smile crawl on his face, he knew Kanade would be able to do it.

With a soft sigh, he shut the door, deciding not to disturb Manami's peaceful time. He was glad to have helped her, he loved helping people, even if only through association. Oh well.. Even if he was still hurting, at least Manami was happy now.

Walking back into his own pigsty of an apartment, he shut the door quickly, and heard a thump. This caused him to turn, looking back at his mailbox curiously. Oh yeah, he hadn't checked the mail in a while.

He opened the hatch, and blinked in surprise, finding only one official looking letter. The date it was sent to him was two weeks ago.. Turning it around, he opened it, and pulled out the paper. A gasp is what escaped from his lips, however, when he read the top of the letter.

 _Eviction Notice_

– – – – – – –

To say Dazai was surprised to see Izaya would be an understatement. After how long everyone had been trying to get in touch with him or Manami, to suddenly run into him on the streets surprised the blonde agent.

The younger agent was leaning against the side of a tree, his body slumped over and eyes lowered. His breath puffed out in front of his quickly, over and over. It seemed that he probably ran here, judging by his hair, haphazardly pulled into a high ponytail, long bangs obscuring his face. He was clutching to the red scarf over his black turtleneck.

Trying to act normal probably wouldn't help any, Izaya always let people pull him into conversations but never started them. So, he merely moved forward, skipping over and hugging Izaya. "Hey~!" Dazai said happily,"It's good to see you're still alive!"

Izaya had jolted at the sudden contact, eye widening a fraction before he shyly looked back down and muttered,"Um.. Y-yeah.."

Dazai noticed this, and frowned worriedly. He looked down at him, gently asking,"What's the matter, Izzy? Did something happen?" He tilted his head, blonde locks falling into his face.

Izaya blushed again, obviously unsure about telling Dazai his issues. "I um.. My apartment complex is kicking me out.." He admitted shamefully, a hue of pink coming to covering his cheeks. Dazai had to stop a gasp from escaping his lips.

"Kicked out, evicted?" Dazai asked in shock,"You? Out of all the people they could throw out, they evict you?!" The sweet, polite, and docile young man surely was too kind to do anything that would get him even closer to anyone's shit list.. Right?

Izaya blushed, and looked down sheepishly,"I.. Well.. I dunno.. I only have a week left to move out, I don't really care about figuring out why when I won't be living there anymore.."

But then the raven smiled, though it seemed forced to Dazai. "It's okay tough," He declared half-heartedly,"I saved up a lot of money over the past few months.. I can probably try and find a house at this point, I'd like some more space, I'm sure the dogs would like some too-"

"Well, that all sounds good, but where are you going to stay until you actually find a house?" Dazai questioned calmly. "You're not going to find a house that suits what you need within a day"

Izaya blinked a bit in surprise, before slumping again. He reached up, pushing his bangs from his face. "I don't know," He admitted, tugging at the bandages on his hands. "I don't want to stay with Kanade.. She's already done so much for me, I don't want to burden her anymore.. I probably can't stay there with my dogs anyway. I.. I don't know what to d-do.."

Dazai looked at him worriedly, taking Izaya's wrists to stop him from pulling off the bandages even more than he'd already managed to. Izaya always seemed to overthink, and think of others before himself. After what happened with the mall, the poor guy didn't deserve to be kicked out of an apartment for what seemed like no reason. He didn't need more bullshit on his plate. Suddenly, they blonde got an idea.

"Hey.." Dazai began gently,"Until you can find a new place to live, why don't you stay with me?"

The raven jerked his head up in surprise, staring at him with wide mismatched eyes. "Oh no!" He said quickly,"I couldn't do that Dazai! You're probably really busy and I couldn't intrude-"

"Nuh-uh! Don't you even start, Izzy," Dazai firmly responded, shaking his head,"You would be the exact opposite of a bother. You're sweet, you're really smart too! It'd be nice to hang out with another human, my two cats aren't exactly the best of company, especially since one of them hates me"

It was a joke, and it worked, as Izaya giggled. But then he went serious again. "Okay Dazai, if you're really sure.. I will stay with you," He calmly said, but Dazai could hear the underlying happiness in his tone. He grinned widely, hugging Izaya tightly.

"Awesome!" Dazai exclaimed,"Let's go get your things, and then get a lawyer, and sue the apartment building!" He then spun around the raven, and skipped away. Izaya blinked in confusion for a moment, before panic set in his eyes. He ran after Dazai, nervously calling after him.

"W-wait.. Dazai-san! That was a joke right? Please tell me that was a joke! _Dazai-san!_ "

– – – – – –

One Week Later

– – – – –

"You know, Izaya, you don't have that much stuff," Dazai pointed out calmly, helping place down the last of the boxes. Izaya had only had about 7 boxes of things, and two were just filled with dog stuff. He plopped on the couch in his house, crossing his legs and messing with his T-shirt.

Izaya sat next to Dazai, handing him a canned coffee. He was wearing a skin tight red T-shirt as well as some black sweatpants. They were both pretty tired, moving everything in only a week was hard work, even if it wasn't that much, the paperwork was also annoying.

"The apartment was mostly furnished when I leased it," Izaya calmly replied,"I just got what I needed to get, mainly for my dogs and work" His attention turned away from Dazai as a black cat with white ear tips leapt into his lap and nuzzled against the raven. Izaya began to pet the cat. Mimi was lying on the floor, while her four month old pup was staring at the white and black striped kitten on the floor curiously, having never seem such a creature before.

Dazai hummed calmly, nodding and smiling,"Well now you can choose your house's style, that's pretty cool, right?" Izaya nodded, busy petting Akutagawa, the black cat. "Okay, how about I get dinner started?"

"Ah!" Izaya exclaimed, jumping up, holding the disgruntled cat in his arms. "W-wait! I-I can cook for you!" Dazai blinked in surprise, blue eyes widening. He slowly turned around, noticing Izaya's slight panicked look.

Dazai frowned nervously and slowly sat back down, calmly saying,"You don't have to do that Izzy.."

The raven frowned, looking down as he shuffled his feet. "I.. I just, I don't know how else I can repay you for doing so much for me.. Even when you didn't have to," He responded honestly, shifting the cat into a different position.

Dazai sighed, placing his coffee down and then placing his hands on Izaya's shoulders. "Izaya, it's okay, you don't have to do anything. I just want you to recover, physically and mentally from what happened," He said, his tone becoming more serious than it had been a few moments ago.

Izaya's face switched so quickly, that if Dazai hadn't been watching closely he would have missed it. His face became serious, emotionless, and confused all at once, before he said,"I'm fine."

"No you are not, don't even try and trick me with that," Dazai firmly declared, while the annoyed cat left Izaya's arms as Dazai shook him. "I have known you long enough by now to know that you love to help people, I know how something like this would affect you. Please, don't bottle it up, it will only make it worse"

Dazai watched Izaya's resolve break, and his facade crack. He brought his arms up to hug himself, his shoulders shook, and tears began to fill his one visible eye. "I just.. I couldn't s-save them D-dazai-san.." He stuttered,"I should have been able to.. But I was too slow.. I failed.."

The blonde looked down at the other male sadly, a sigh escaping his lips. "Izzy.." He tried to gently say,"You can't save everyone"

"I know!" Izaya snapped, before bringing a hand up to his eye and wiping at his tears. "I.. I wanted to s-so bad.. They didn't d-deserve to die.. But.. B-but I.."

Unable to think of anything else, Dazai moved his hands from Izaya's shoulders to his sides and pulled him into a hug. Izaya froze for a moment, before he wrapped his arms around Dazai's waist, his head going to Dazai's shoulder, and he began to sob.

Dazai buried his nose into Izaya's hair, one hand carding through the locks while humming gently. "It's okay," He whispered gently, eyes filled with sadness and understanding. "Let it out, Izzy.. I'm here for you"

And he was, holding Izaya against him and allowing him to release all the pain that had been building up. He understood, he knew what it was like to feel like you couldn't do anything, what it was like to lose people when you were right there.

And because he knew, he could help. He would be there for Izaya, for as long as he needed him.

– – – – – –

After that initial meltdown, Izaya seemed to calm down much more. The next few weeks were spent mainly between them, as they settled into a routine. Izaya's wounds healed, and he began to feel better mentally. Despite Dazai's initial refusal, Izaya helped cook, and he was amazing at it.

Their meals were nice too. Izaya wasn't much of a talker, but Dazai was. No matter how much Dazai chattered, Izaya always listened, sometimes adding his own opinion in every now and then. It was nice to have someone to talk to. He really liked having Izaya there.

Much to Dazai's dismay, his cats also seemed to like Izaya as well, and take up Izaya's attention as much as they could. The dogs, luckily, got along well with the cats as well.

It took a while for Izaya to gather enough courage to return to work, but he did with Dazai's encouragement. Everyone was happy to see that no both Manami and Izaya were back and feeling better. They were both happy to be back at work too.

Dazai found himself watching Izaya more. Something about the younger male drew him closer. Maybe it was the kindness of the raven, or the way he always wanted to help people. Whatever the reason, Dazai didn't mind. He started asking Izaya to spend more time with him, wanting to learn as much as he could about the other male.

He remembered one day, they were sitting in his living room, listening to the sound of the rain outside and the leak falling into the bowl they'd haphazardly placed there. Izaya was drying off Kaiyo, whom decided that the mud had been made just for her, and had just been given a bath. Dazai was staring up at the ceiling and petting Atsushi, the kitten, when a thought came to him.

"Hey, Izzy?" He asked, lifting his head and looking down at the raven. Izaya released a questioning noise, looking up at Dazai. He pulled some hair from his face, asking,"Yes, Dazai-kun?"

Dazai looked at him for a moment, before turning his head down,"Do you ever wonder about who you left behind in your past life.. Since you can't remember anything?"

"Of course I do," Izaya said simply,"I always wonder about it. It's always going through my head, you know?" He pulled the dog into his lap, and pet her behind her ears. "Did I have a family, a job, friends? I wish I could know.. But I'm also.. Afraid"

"Afraid?" Dazai questioned,"A nice person like you? Izzy, you have nothing to be afraid of" He stood up, walking over and taking Izaya's hand.

"I don't think I was always like this.." Izaya admitted, placing the puppy down. "I mean.. If I was this nice, why would someone shoot me? It couldn't have been an accident, Dazai-kun. I mean, it shattered part of my skull, blinded my eye. If it had been an accident, it wouldn't have hit me so hard.. If I was such a kind person, why wasn't anyone waiting for me when I woke up? I sometimes think that I'm better off not knowing.. If this is my second chance at life, maybe it's safer for me not to try and find out"

Dazai frowned, and looked down. "O-oh.. I'm sorry.." He muttered, unsure of how to respond. But instead of Izaya being angry, he smiled.

"It's okay Dazai-kun, you didn't know," Izaya said simply, using one of his gentle hands to rub his eyes. "Hmm.. I think I'm going to go to sleep.. Goodnight"

Izaya had left, and Dazai was not far behind him. But, it seemed their small, but eye opening conversation had done something to Dazai. Memories sprouted up again, the pain crawling through his body again. He wanted to die, it was all his fault. He was running towards silhouettes, begging them to wait for him, but they walked away without looking back. He cried out once more-

Lightning flashed, and Dazai jumped awake. He felt something wet in his hands, and turned them down. He saw the blood in his palms, from his nails. He sniffed, looking to his side. In the spare futon next to him, Izaya was still asleep.

He stumbled out of his own futon, and into the bathroom. He turned on the light, staring at himself. The blue eyes, the blonde hair. He brought one bloodied hand up to the locks, grabbed at the hair and pulling it down. Just at his roots, he could see it's original color. He began to whimper, and brought his other hand to his hair, clutching even tighter at it.

"It's all my fault.." He whispered,"It's because of me.. If I just.. Why was I such a fool?! It's all my fault.. It's because of me!" His voice became louder, and a shuddering gasp escaped his lips as he turned his teary eyes up, staring at the face he hated.

An angry scream escaped his lips as he threw his fist forward, slamming it into the mirror and causing it to shatter. The shards fell into the sink and onto the floor, some landing in Dazai's arm. His sobbing increased as he lowered himself to the floor, knees falling into the glass.

He heard the bathroom door open, and a worried voice call out,"Dazai?" He sniffed, looking up to meet Izaya's disheveled, panicked eyes. The second they made eye contact, Izaya's own filled with sadness, and he moved forward, taking Dazai's hand and leading him from the bathroom.

Now, sitting on Dazai's futon together, Izaya was wrapping Dazai's wounds. The tired blonde looked at the determined raven, then back down at the wounds. Nothing was sad between them, and it was driving Dazai crazy.

With a sigh, he asked,"Well? Aren't you going to make me explain?" The raven did not reply for a moment, placing down Dazai's bandaged left hand and moving to pick glass out of his other hand.

"No," The raven said simply, placing the glass with the rest of the bloody bits. "If you want to talk about, then you can, I'm not going to force you"

Dazai had never heard someone say that before, everyone else always wanted him to explain right away, even when he didn't trust them. Even though he hadn't known Izaya long, he trusted him. He wanted him to know.

"It's all my fault, you know" He began, seeing Izaya's eyes flick upwards to him before they turned back to the wounds, focusing on them. "My friend dying, when I was still in the mafia. I was the one that wanted to switch sides, I didn't think it through.. He got shot keeping me from death.. If I had been more careful.."

Dazai's shoulders began to shake, as he whispered,"Izzy.. I had a f-family you know? Mom, Dad, a few siblings.. But I have to hide now, if the mafia ever realized I was alive… The first people they'd hurt would be my family.. So I had to die.. They think I'm dead, Izaya. I see them, they visit my grave.. I want to go up to them so much, tell them I'm alive, to tell them it's okay.. But I can't.. And it's all my fault, I chose to join the mafia, I chose everything. It's all my fault.."

Izaya had finished wrapping Dazai's hand, and reached up, wiping away his tears. "Dazai-san, don't be angry with yourself. You're going to be able to see your family again one day, we're taking down the mafia in our job, remember? If your friend had wanted to leave with you, he'd want you to keep fighting. Your family would too," Izaya gently declared, smiling up at Dazai in what the raven hoped was reassurance.

Dazai released a shaky sigh, and wrapped his arms around Izaya's back, pulling the male up to his chest as he began to sob even more. "It just… It hurts so much.. I want to give up.." He stuttered,"I j-just want it all to s-stop.."

Izaya frowned, and softly declared,"I know it hurts Dazai-kun, but you just have to keep fighting. If not for yourself, then for them. You can do it, I believe in you"

Dazai's heard shattered. No one had ever told him that before, with as much sincerity as he saw in Izaya's eyes. Izaya never seemed to judge, he truly cared for Dazai. He leaned closer, sobbing in pain and sadness, releasing all his anguish.

Izaya didn't pull away, he didn't try and squirm. He allowed Dazai to cry, he didn't judge, he didn't get annoyed, he listened. Dazai hadn't felt so close to someone in so long, and it made him feel.. Not so alone.

They fell asleep on Dazai's futon, Izaya before Dazai. The blonde looked at the raven, running a hand through the gentle, silky hair and taking in all the details of the raven next to him. Everything about him, it pulled Dazai in. He was so loving, so kind, so special, so brave. He deserved everything in the world and Dazai wanted to be the one to give it all to him. It was at this moment, Dazai finally realized what had happened.. Why he was feeling this way..

He had fallen in love with Orihara Izaya.

– – – – – –

Four Months Later

– – – – – –

Izaya felt a huge smile crawling up his face as he stared down at the papers in his hand. He had finally done it, he had found a home, and now it was his! He felt excitement as he looked back up at it. It was farther from the city, and work, than he had originally intended. It was closer to the trees and forests surrounding to city than it was the actual city. But in the end, he didn't mind.

The house was of traditional architecture, larger than he had anticipated. Since it was a traditional home, it had stairs leading up to the front door. It had engawa all around the house, sliding doors with storm shutters. Inside was a zen interior, though there was no furniture inside other than the tatami mats on the floor. It had a nice, modern kitchen on the ground area of the house, and a nice view from the upstairs area. There was a nice amount of land on the inside and outside of the gate, plenty of room for his dogs. There was tons of foliage, grass, and he could see out to the rice fields nearby. Sure, he'd have to take the train or bus to work, but it was worth it. It was beautiful out here.

The dogs were now here with him, and were making sure to examine everything around them excitedly. Both of them were wearing their winter sweaters he had gotten, as winter had finally arrived. It was December, and rather cold, even in the cities.

He went back and to Dazai after finding the house, excitedly declaring to him that he had finally found a perfect house. Dazai, for some reason, seemed a little upset. Izaya didn't know why, maybe Dazai liked having a roommate? He made sure to remind Dazai that he was welcome over at any time. That's when Dazai got an idea.

He suggested that Izaya have a Christmas and housewarming party, and Izaya agreed wholeheartedly. He'd been hoping to celebrate the holidays this year, since he'd never really gotten a chance yet. So, he couldn't help but be a little excited, especially since the agency was getting two weeks of holiday.

Though he didn't have much furniture, he set up what he could and made sure the internet and radio were connected. Then, he was ready for the celebrations. A smile crawled across his face as he thought about it, he couldn't wait!

– – – – – –

December 24th, 2:00pm

– – – – – –

On that snowy day, guests arrived quickly and excitedly. Kanade was first, she had brought her two children as well. Shouyou and Tobio were next, then Kunikida, Kine, and Manami. Dazai was last to arrive, and the incident that happened when he did was very amusing for some, and confusing for others.

The doorbell had rung, causing Kunikida to run over and open the door. Dazai was wearing his normal coat, though underneath it was a nice Christmas sweater and black skinny jeans. In his left arm was a large-ish box, and his other hand holding a bag of smaller gifts. "Hello!" He said excitedly, brushing the snow from his hair.

"Took you long enough, idiot, we were waiting on you to start!" Kunikida grumbled, though he couldn't look very intimidating in the headband with antlers that Tsugumi forced him to wear. As Dazai walked in further, he saw that said child was currently wrapping ornaments in Izaya's hair. From mistletoe and mint clips to small bits of tinsel. The raven was also wearing a gray sweater with two blue lines on the upper chest area, which looked completely adorable on him.

Managing to escape the hyper child's grasp, Izaya got up excitedly, moving quickly over. "Dazai-kun! I have someone I want you to meet now that you're here!" He said, red eye sparkling with happiness.

Dazai had to take a breath to stop the beating in his heart. "Ah, of course! Hang on one moment, let me put these gifts down," He said. Moving to the pile of gifts, he put the bag down before carefully placing the larger box down.

Then, he followed Izaya to where most everyone was, in the large room with the glass shoji doors closed, but the wooden ones open to show the engawa and the snow of the outdoors. He took Dazai over to a young woman, who turned to face them.

"Dazai, this is Inazuka Kanade. Remember, the woman who runs the cafe I used to work at? I wanted to finally introduce you guys to each other," Izaya said innocently, not noticing the spark that passed through both Kanade and Dazai's eyes the second they met. Yes, they recognized each other. But not as just an old face.. But as a threatening rival.

A forced smile crawled up Dazai's face. "Oh, it's _so_ _nice_ to meet you, Inazuka-san," He said in a sickly sweet voice,"It seems that we haven't seen each other since Izzy started working with _ME_ "

"Ah yes~!" Kanade replied in an equally false tone. "It seems we haven't, but please, call me Kanade. You know, like Izaya does since we're so _close_ to each other. Have been for _quite_ a while, you know?"

"Why yes, I actually do know!" Dazai countered cheerfully,"You see, when one spends as much time as _I_ did with the person they care for the most, they tend to know lots about them. Especially when you're helping them find happiness again after a bad situation! If I may ask, where were you during those past few months then, hm?"

This caused several other members of the room's eyes to widen. You could almost see the sparks colliding between them, their competition for the same person bursting into a flaming fruition in front of their very eyes. No one was sure what to say. It seemed like they may explode at any second into a full on cat fight.

"Um.. Izaya!" Manami quickly said, breaking the congealed tension in the room. "Didn't you want to serve food now? We were having hotpot, right?" She questioned.

Izaya turned to look at her, smiling quickly. "Oh! Yeah! Thank you for reminding me Manami!" He said excitedly,"Did you want to pass out your new food too?"

"Ooh! Food! I'm starving!" Shouyou chattered, jumping up and down like an overexcited child.

The hot pot was served and the mood seemed to get a little better, though both Kanade and Dazai seemed to be trying to keep Izaya to themselves. But the day continued to go on, and Izaya seemed unaware. It wasn't dangerous, in fact many of the guests found it funny. The struggle was truly real.

– – – – – –

8:00pm

– – – – – –

The day had progressed well as time went on, there was now Christmas music and Kunikida had already managed to get drunk. Much to the chagrin of Kine, whom the intoxicated man quickly clung to. Kunikida also turned out to be very emotional and foolish when drunk, calling their boss and then asking if he was single, then proceeding to sob when their boss confusedly replied that he was not. It took the coaxing skills of almost all the agents to pry the phone away from him and console him while Izaya apologized profusely to the victim on the other line.

Tsugumi spent most of the night pestering as many adults as she could to decorate them in the spirit of Christmas. Even Kine and Manami eventually crumbled under her adorable puppy dog eyes. Manami ended up with hair much like Izaya's, while Kine had a wreath on his head like a headband.

Manami and Kine couldn't help but smile while eating hot pot, remembering the time Izaya complained about not being invited by Shinra to his own party- with rightful reasons -But Izzy got so excited when they got everything prepared, before confusedly wondering why he was so excited about something so mundane. They weren't going to tell him, they owed him that much.

Eventually, Dazai caught the sight of the time and happily called out,"Hey! We should open presents now!" Everyone stood at attention quickly, even the children.

"Can we really open them tonight, mommy?" Tsugumi asked hopefully, to which the woman smiled kindly and said,"Of course, but only these ones. The rest have to wait until tomorrow"

The eight year old and her six year old brother pouted, but eventually decided to just go with it. Everyone gathered around to get their gifts. It went pretty well, at first. Kunikida got plenty of new notebooks and fancy pens, Shouyou and Toboi got volleyball and detective items, the children got exactly the toys they'd been pestering the adults for, Kine got many special cigars and books he'd asked for, while Manami got plenty of plushies and other items she'd wanted. Kanade and Dazai both got special gifts from Izaya, the young woman gaining some exotic ingredients that she'd been wanting to get for new recipes, and Dazai got a fuzzy little kitten named Chuuya.

Of course, when they went to give Izaya their gifts, the trouble began. "Thank you Izaya!" Dazai had happily said, as the kitten nibbled on his finger. "You know, I think if you got this for me, you may actually like my gift as well!" He had said.

Izaya tilted his head curiously, making the bells in his hair ring. Turning to the box Dazai brought (and suddenly realizing why Dazai had taken the box outside so many times during the night), he pulled off the top of the box and gasped excitedly.

Inside the box was a little puppy, a Corgi. It wagged it's tail, barking at the new face in excitement. The raven gently picked up the pup, smiling widely. "Dazai-kun! She's so adorable! Thank you so much!" He said happily, hugging the dog. The puppy excitedly yapped, wiggling around and attempting to lick Izaya's lips.

The smile on his face made Dazai's own appear as well, as he grinned widely. "I knew you'd like her-" He began, only to stop as the box Kanade brought began to wobble back and forth, back and forth. Soon, the box had knocked over and the top fell off, revealing the creature inside.

In the box was a larger puppy, a Saint Bernard to be exact. The puppy flopped down, before managing to climb onto it's big paws and toddle over to Izaya, tail wagging. Kanade managed to regain her composure as she spread out her arms and called out,"Surprise!"

Izaya looked about ready to cry as he pulled the puppies close, happily thanking both Dazai and Kanade before becoming absorbed by the puppies' cuteness so much so he didn't notice what happened next. Dazai and Kanade's enraged glares towards each other at the realization that they both truly did know Izaya as well as they claimed, that their competition was going to be much much tougher than they originally thought. But this fact was not going to stop either of them.

– – – – – –

December 25th, 12:00am

– – – – – –

The festivities ended late, everyone who needed to take the train left around 9:00pm to catch it, Kine luring Kunikida to sleep to make sure he didn't burst into song while they were on the train. Dazai and Kanada seemed to have a 'Who could stay the longest' competition, though Kanade eventually left with her kids after hugging Izaya tightly, lingering for a long moment before a blush came across her face. Izaya blushed in return, while Dazai glared darkly at the woman behind him.

She left, and Dazai made a move, hugging Izaya tightly from behind. "I had a wonderful night, I'm going to miss having you at my home though," He whispered gently, burying his nose in those silky black locks, which seemed to always smell of coffee.

"Dazai-kun, thank you for letting me stay with you, you're welcome over here anytime," Izaya promised,"Staying with you was fun, and.. I'm glad we're more than just co-workers"

Dazai felt his heart beating faster, as Izaya turned to face him, his eye seemed to pierce into the farthest reaches of the blonde's mind. Dazai couldn't get enough of him, his gentle body, beautiful hair, his ability to find the good in everyone, and never judge Dazai even after he admitted to his past mistakes.

Leaning down, his hand tilted the raven's chin up, staring deeper into that one red eye. He leaned forward, closing his eyes as he connected their lips, his mind exploding with bliss for a few short moments as he tasted those sweet lips. Dazai wanted to continue, to go farther, but then his mind finally caught up with his body.

He pulled away, eyes wide as Izaya stared up at him. The raven's cheeks turned red as a blush crawled up, his hand going to his lips. It seemed that he was too shocked to say anything.

Dazai felt his face flush, as he felt embarrassed for letting himself get carried away. He turned, running past the gate and into the snow, to where his car was parked, ignoring Izaya's call for him to come back.

Izaya went to chase him, but stopped at the edge of his property, breathing hard to regain the breath that was snatched away from him in that moment. He couldn't see Dazai in the heavy snow, at this point he was probably gone.

A hand went to his lips, his heart speeding up. That kiss, did Dazai.. Love him? There had only been one other person who had done that to him before, it had been Kanade. But that was back when still trying to understand emotions again.. He didn't know why she did it back then.. Did she.. Did she love him too?

Izaya was confused, enormously so, he didn't know what to say. He turned back to his house, opening the gate silently as he went to enter. That's when his trained eye saw figures in the snow. They were moving slowly, very slowly. Maybe if it hadn't been in near blizzard weather, or midnight on Christmas Day, he would have disregarded it. But he grew worried, and slowly walked over to the figure, shivering slightly.

The figure froze, and tried to turn, but seemed weight down by something and Izaya continued approached the shuddering figure. The sheet of snow that block his view vanished upon being closer, he saw it wasn't a person, but two kids.

Their skin was pale, their bodies shivering. One was taller, and looked like he may be around 12 or 13 years old. In his arms he was holding a smaller kid, who looked much worse for wear than the older. His cheeks were flushed red and he was sweating, despite the freezing cold weather. Both seemed to be injured in some way, bruises littered their bodies.

Izaya exhaled in surprise, taking another step forward only for the taller kid to stumble back in the snow, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the raven. Izaya quickly stepped back, holding his hands up in a gesture of peace.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," Izaya whispered gently, though he doubted they believed him. These kids would freeze to death if he didn't do something.. He couldn't bear to let that happen.

"Listen, I live in that house right there," He explained,"I know you don't trust me, but you're going to freeze out here. Neither of you look like you feel well" The older looked down at the other child, his face scrunching up with worry.

" _Please,_ " Izaya said, placing his hands together,"Even if it's just until the storm passes, please stay inside, I'll keep you safe, I promise"

The older seemed to realize the truth in Izaya's words, as he nodded the tiniest bit, as if hoping Izaya wouldn't notice. But he didn't move afterwards. It only took Izaya a few moments to realize that the kid probably wanted him to lead the way, he didn't want anyone behind him where they could hurt them.

Izaya turned, opening the gate and walking inside to his front area, up the stairs, and opening the sliding door, walking inside. It took a few moments, but the kids wandered inside. The gentle light illuminated them, and Izaya finally got a full look at the shivering children.

Their clothes were filled with holes and threadbare. The older kid was short, at least for the age Izaya guessed he may be at. He had short light brown hair with mismatches eyes. His left eye was blue and his right was amethyst.

The younger child stared at Izaya wearily, his breathing congested. He had honey-blonde hair, which was much longer and messier, down to his shoulder, and with bangs that fell naturally into his eyes. His eyes were a piercing magenta, but at the moment clouded over with pain.

The older kid looked at him, eyes filled with courage, prepared to flee at any second. He held the child out in his arms a bit, and firmly said,"Help him"

Izaya nodded, and inclined his head, taking them into the room where the guests had been. The kid looked around nervously, while Izaya moved to a cabinet, pulling out a futon and spreading it on the floor.

The older kid noticed instantly, moving down and placing the younger kid inside of it. With the care of a mother, he tucked the younger one in. His eyes were filled with worry, as he whispered,"It's okay Shuuya, you're going to be okay"

Izaya watched for a moment, his heart swelling with an emotion he didn't understand. He moved into the bathroom, pulling out a thermometer and medicine. He grabbed two blankets from the cabinet and walked back in. He draped one blanket over the older kid, who flinched in surprise. He then touched the fuzzy blanket, pulling it around himself and looking at Izaya in confusion.

Kneeling down, Izaya looked at Shuuya, whom was nervously staring at him. "Is it okay if I take your temperature?" He asked gently,"I would like to see if you have a fever or not"

"Okay.." The boy shyly replied, opening his mouth as Izaya put the thermometer in. After the beep, he looked at it. 39 Degrees Celsius. That wasn't good..

"Is it bad..?" The child asked fearfully, and Izaya looked at the child. "A little," He half-lied,"It's nothing some rest and some good food won't fix, but you'll need to stay in bed a few days, definitely"

Shuuya made a noise of agreement, as his eyes closed and he fell into what Izaya hoped was a relaxing sleep.

"Why are you helping us?" The older child said, causing Izaya to turn to him. "There's no reason you have to. Or are you some type of monk?"

"Monk?" Izaya repeated in confusion.

"Yeah, you have hair like monk," The kid continued,"But you also look like a girl. Are you some kind of cross dressing monk?"

If the kid was younger, Izaya may have understood the question. The kid didn't seem to be genuinely asking either. Izaya was an agent, he interrogated criminals all the time. He knew when someone was trying to push his buttons, he knew _how_ to push buttons. That is exactly what the kid was doing.

He's testing Izaya, he's trying to see if Izaya will kick them out. Obviously the kid's past was not a good one, without a true reason to trust Izaya he was just going to think that Izaya wanted something from them. The raven knew he would just have to prove to them he meant well.

"I'm not a monk, or a cross dresser. I'm a detective named Orihara Izaya," He explained,"I'm helping you because I want to"

"And what do you want in return?" The older kid questioned, still not giving his name.

Izaya looked over at him. "You know, not everybody does things because they want something in return," He explained,"If I want anything it's that you're both healthy and safe"

"Why?" The child demanded again, eyes narrowed. Though Izaya could see his fear, his hand had gone stark white with how tightly he was clutching to the blanket.

Izaya wracked his brain, what could he say to answer this question. With a gentle look at the two of them, he softly said,"I wanted to"

The kid didn't seem to know what to say for a moment, looked down quietly, and said,"I'm Naoya"

Izaya smiled gently, and said,"Nice to meet you Naoya. Are you hungry?"

Naoya's mismatched eyes looked him up and down suspiciously, before finally allowing himself to nod. Izaya grabbed a plate of cookies from nearby area, sliding them over. "It's not the healthiest thing in the world, but I only got enough food for the party. I'll go food shopping first thing tomorrow," He explained, though the teen didn't seem to mind one bit. He grabbed a few, gobbling them down with ferocity. Izaya frowned, wondering how long the kid had gone without food.

Izaya stood up, deciding not to waste any more electricity and turned off the lights. Taking a few candles that Manami had gotten him and lighting those nearby. He then sat on one side of the futon, across from Naoya and watched after Shuuya. His hard breathing was making Izaya worried, he wanted to stay close.

Eventually, the exhaustion caught up to everyone. Naoya's eyes drooped first, as he fell into a deep sleep beside Shuuya. Izaya wasn't far behind, and soon, all three were in a restful slumber, unsure of what the next day would bring.

When Naoya woke up the next day, the Izaya guy wasn't there. He frowned, looking down towards Shuuya. The child was just starting to awaken as well, rubbing his eyes weakly and then looking up towards the older. "Morning Nao-nii," He said softly.

"Hi," Naoya replied quietly, looking around the room suspiciously,"That man.. I don't trust him"

"Why not?" Shuuya asked innocently, his pure blue eyes staring at Naoya. "I like him, he gave me a bed. He was nice.."

The brunette huffed, crossing his arms. "Too nice, Shuuya," Naoya mumbled back,"When was the last time a grown up was ever nice to us without wanting something in return? You know how they work, we can't stay here. He probably doesn't want us here anyway"

"Did he say that?" Shuuya asked curiously, with a hint of sadness in his tone. Naoya instantly felt bad, and quickly shook his head. Shuuya then wiggled in the bed, softly replying,"Then maybe he does!"

"But Shuuya, he's a detective, if _they_ go to him then he'll take us back to-" Naoya stopped himself as the shoji nearby slid open.

A stampede of dogs galloped through the door, running over to investigate the new people. Shuuya squealed excitedly, suddenly being covered with dogs. Naoya stood up quickly, stumbling back. One dog, a white one with three legs, followed after him with a tilted head. Naoya slowly reached a hand out for the dog to sniff, shaking slightly. He flinched as the dog licked him, but then slowly began petting the dog, feeling a bit of joy fill him.

"That's Kaiyo," Izaya's voice came into the room, causing both children to flinch in surprise. They turned, seeing the raven dressed in a yukata with his hair in a braid. In his arms was a plate of food. He placed it down in front of Shuuya's futon, the child's eyes widened at the sight of all that food.

The raven then handed him chopsticks, while pointing to the brown and white dog. "She's Mimi, my first dog. Those two puppies I just got yesterday, they don't have names yet," He explained, now holding a pair of chopsticks out to Naoya.

Naoya made sure to help up Shuuya so he could sit at the table, before he even started eating. For a few moments, they were silent. Shuuya looked over at the puppies. The smaller one with stubby legs was yapping at the bigger puppy, until the bigger puppy flopped on top of him lovingly. He giggled a bit, before turning to the man. as

"They don't have names?" Shuuya asked again, to which Izaya shook his head. Shuuya messed with his rice for a moment, before asking,"Can we name them?"

Instead of the raven getting mad, like both the children expected, Izaya smiled. "Sure!" He cheerfully replied, eating more of his food.

Shuuya looked positively ecstatic, while Naoya looked confused as to why Izaya wasn't mad at them. Looking at the corgi, he looked back at the raven suspiciously. Trying to think of something that would possibly annoy the raven, he then said,"Her name is Bread"

Instead of looking confused, Izaya stared for a moment before beginning to giggle. "I like that! She does look like Bread!" He agreed, making Shuuya examine the corgi, beginning to giggle as well. Bread, as she was now named, seemed to know she was being laughed at. She barked loudly, spinning in a circle before charging over to them and attempting to jump on the table. Even though the table was only a foot off the ground, she tumbled anyways.

Naoya snorted, a smile crawling up his face before he realized what he did. He hadn't smiled in so long, it hurt to. He didn't know what to do. When was the last time he saw Shuuya this excited or happy? When was the last time Naoya himself had laughed? What made this adult so different from the others? Why didn't he want to leave?


	7. Chapter 7

_**Two chapters in a day, damn I'm spoiling you guys XD (In all honesty I just made chapter 6 too long so now it's two chapters) But THIS is now the last chapter before the reunion, so I hope you all enjoy it! Now I can finally post that new story and write**_

 _ **Once again, thank you GateBreaker and Alex for helping me write this story!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

– – – – – – –

Three Weeks Later

Work started back up again, and Izaya somehow managed to convince the children to stay. He didn't know where they were from still, when he offered to take them home or to the hospital to check on their wounds the older and younger quickly refused. Obviously it was a touchy subject, though he wanted to broach it at some point.. Especially if it meant helping them.

Parking his motorcycle outside, he huffed calmly, going into the building and to the locker areas. He stashed his helmet inside, and turned to leave when he came face to face with Dazai, who was walking down the hall. The second their eyes met, they both blushed brightly, and quickly passed each other. Izaya hadn't been able to find the courage to talk to Kanade or Dazai as of late, after he started thinking about some of their behavior around him and towards each other-

"There you are!" Shouyou said excitedly, running out of the offices. "Izzy-senpai! The boss said he needs you in his office, right away, you're getting an assignment!"

Izaya smiled. "Oh, thank you Shouyou," He told the younger man, looking the teen up and down. "And good luck on your first assignment, I know you'll pass"

The raven walked to his boss' office, finding him not alone. There was a couple in the chairs in front of his desk. Their boss, Yukichi Fukuzawa, looked relieved to see him. "This will be the agent assigned to your case," He said, motioning Izaya over.

Izaya smiled kindly towards the couple, bowing forward. "First class investigator, Orihara Izaya, at your service ma'am," He said professionally.

The woman, a younger, large lady with light brown hair and a small pair of glasses. She seemed to be trying to fit in a dress three sizes too small for her body. She sneered at Izaya, turning back to Yukichi. "Isn't there a more.. Qualified officer we can talk to?" She whined.

Izaya stood straight, keeping his face neutral, while his boss moved to his side. "Ma'am, I'll have you know that Orihara-san will be promoted to Associate Special Class Investigator sooner than later with his intelligence and pace, he's more than qualified. All our other investigators already have assignments, it's either Izaya or you go find another company to help you," Yukichi countered.

Both her and the lanky, scrawny older man next to her looked annoyed, before sighing. "Fine," The woman grumbled, sitting back in the chair. Izaya moved next to the desk, and calmly asked,"What can I do for you today?"

The woman then pouted her lip out, sniffling like she was going to cry. "Oh," She stuttered,"Our foster children, they ran away on December 15th and we haven't been able to find them, we're simply worried sick!"

Izaya frowned, narrowing his eyes. She did not seem worried, she seemed angry. The lanky man next to her wasn't showing any emotion at all. He found himself growing suspicious. "They went missing a month ago and you're just now asking for assistance in locating them?" He asked.

"Well, the agency was closed then-" The lanky man began, trying to save himself. But Izaya shook his head. "Our agency didn't close for winter until December 20th, and even then you could have gone to the police," He chastised.

The two spluttered for a moment, before the woman snapped,"Alright! We get it! Are you going to help us or not?!"

Izaya felt a strange new emotion in his body, the emotion that told him to push these poor excuses for parents out of the open window nearby. "Of course I am, that's why I'm in front of you right now, attempting to give you advice on how to be less of an idiot doesn't mean I refused now, does it?" He snarked, quickly continuing,"Do you have any photos of the missing children?"

"Not missing, runaways," The woman hissed, digging through her handbag and pulling out a file. "This is their file when they were put in our care," She said.

Izaya pulled the file closer, flipping it open, and his eye widened, heart skipping a beat. It was Naoya and Shuuya, though in these photos they looked much healthier. Something was wrong.. These papers said that they were put into their care in October. These pictures were recent, if they truly only ran away on the 15th.. They couldn't have thinned out that quickly.. So then-

The woman cleared her throat, causing Izaya to jerk up. "Well?" She demanded,"Can you find them?" Izaya wanted to shake his head, turn and tell his boss something was wrong, but he merely smiled. "Of course, I'll keep you up to date on information I find, thank you for your time," He said emotionlessly.

The couple left, grumbling all the way. Izaya waited until the door closed, turning to face his boss. Yukichi stared at him intently, waiting for a few moments before he closed his eyes and nodded. "I looked at the files, I know what you're going to say," He confirmed.

Izaya nodded the slightest bit, and Yukichi calmly declared,"That's why I gave you this case, I knew you would catch it. Search, find something. I know they're hiding something from us, do what you have to do"

"Yes sir," Izaya replied thankfully, leaving the room with a quick bow. He pulled open the file again, seeing the frowns on the children's faces, how little information there was on the children. Not even background information. The foster parents' names were in there, but he didn't know whether to believe them or not. Aiko and Sanae.. He knew something was wrong with this whole picture, but what?

Walking past the bathroom, he saw the lanky man. Sanae. He closed the file, trying to walk by quickly. "You know, I'm not really into men, but I wouldn't mind you," Sanae said, causing Izaya to freeze in surprise.

"E-excuse me...?" He asked, turning to face the lanky man, red eye wide.

"Your hair, and your body, all very feminine. You're sexy, I wouldn't mind fucking you all day and night in a nice hotel," He flirted, moving closer.

"Y-you're married!" Izaya cried out.

"So, you honestly think she's anything I want?" He sneered,"You're more attractive than lots of bitches around here" His hand went to Izaya's cheek, which the raven promptly pushed away.

"Stop that, you're disgusting!" Izaya snapped, turning and quickly going down the hall. Dear god, was that what some poor women went through daily? What was this man's problem?! He was married, to a woman no less! And to flirt with the detective in charge of locating his children, in a public work place?! Ugh, he needed to wash his brain with soap.

He got to his desk, running a hand through his hair before pulling the file forward. He pulled up a database, typing in their full names. Of course, nothing came up. He was right, those names were fake. Even if they'd never committed any crimes (which he seriously doubted) then their names would still be in here with a clean slate. There was nothing.

Now he already had them down for one crime, fraud. But, Izaya needed more information before he really went after them. Sure, it could be just a case of fraud. But he doubted it. If this truly was just a worried couple looking for their foster children, why were they putting fake names on their documents?

No, there was something more sinister going on here. He was going to get to the bottom of it, he was going to keep Naoya and Shuuya safe, no matter what it took. But to do that, he needed more information.

The first place he went was the Child Welfare Agency nearby, where he got in touch with some social workers. Under the rouse of looking for the kids, he asked if he could look at their past files.

"Of course sir, come back with us, we'll get started right away," The gray haired one named Koushi told him.

He went to the back, looking at the computer with the man. He typed in the information and Izaya looked at the papers printing, pulling them in front of him.

First he read Shuuyas. He was put into the system at 2, and the kid was 4 now. Apparently his mother died in childbirth and his father didn't want to keep him for long. Poor kid..

Naoya seemed to have an even worse past. His parents died in a car crash when he was 4, and then his relatives passed him along until all his inheritance was in their hands before dumping him into the system. He was passed from home to home up until 12, when he ran away from an abusive home only to be placed into Aiko and Sanae's home. Poor kid.. No wonder he had trust issues.

"Do you have information on Aiko and Sanae?" He asked hopefully. The man's face changed, the kindness it once had was suddenly darkened.

He nodded, turning back to the computer and typing in some letters. "Yes.. They've been.. _Fostering_ children for eight years," He said with a false calmness in his tone.

"You don't seem to agree with your own words," Izaya observed calmly. The man sighed sadly, resting his cheek in his hand.

He shook his head. "I don't. I don't trust them at all" He frowned, looking left and right before motioning Izaya closer.

"They've fostered 20 children, but they've all run away. Everyone else seems to believe them.. I do not. Something's wrong. It's one thing to have a few children run away, but all of them? And now the two children they took in recently are gone? Something isn't right," He worriedly said, chocolate eyes staring at Izaya sadly.

Taking Izaya's hand in his own he shakily asked,"You know something is wrong too, don't you? Please, stop them. Figure out what's wrong"

Izaya nodded gently, and said,"I promise" He looked back at the computer, and then asked,"Do you know where I could learn more about Aiko and Sanae"

The man looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded, opening his mouth to speak.

Izaya stared at the building in front of his suspiciously. It was large, a club of some kind. He saw the guard at the front, it was one of those clubs you needed permission to enter. It seemed that this case was getting more and more difficult. The one strand of yarn that represented the case had frayed at the ends and then continued rolling, there were more things he had to find. This wasn't just an abuse case anymore.

He watched from his motorcycle, eating his rice ball and sitting calmly. People showed a card before getting in. There was membership, which meant there was no way in hell he was getting in, there was no way he could get membership either. If this place was the cesspool of criminals that Koushi informed him it might be, they weren't going to let a detective in. He needed a strategy.

Looking closer, he noticed that all these men seemed to have some type of woman clinging to their arm. These women more often than not extremely dressed up, and some didn't show a pass. Suddenly, an idea passed through Izaya's mind.

Stuffing the rest of the rice ball in his mouth, he put his helmet back on, speeding to his old apartment complex as fast as he could. He had a very good idea, but if he was going to do it, he would need some help.

To say Manami was confused would be an understatement, when nearing ten o' clock at night there was a frantic knock on their door. Opening it, it revealed Izaya in his black biker suit, hair a mess, as he exclaimed,"Manami-chan! Do you have a dress that would fit me?"

"What the _fuck_ _?!_ " Manami spluttered, going to slam the door shut, but Izaya stuck his foot in the doorway.

"Wait wait let me explain!-" Izaya tried to talk, only to push his way in as Manami ran from the door.

"The first thing you do when you come back from winter break is ask if I look like a monk; and now you're asking for a dress?!" She demanded,"Did you take something over the break!?"

"Manami wait! Please let me explain!" He repeated loudly, trying to stop the blush of embarrassment that was climbing onto his cheeks. "It's for a case!"

"What goddamn case causes you to need a dress you can fit into!?" She demanded,"What the absolute fuck!?"

Izaya grabbed her hands. "Listen. I need to get into a club in the city, it's for my investigation. But it's a membership. But some men can get some women in with them without having membership. It's important I get in, if that means I have to pretend to be a girl then so be it," He said calmly.

Manami saw the determination in his eyes, and sighed. "Fine," She said, before grabbing his shirt. "But we're doing this together. It'll be safe than going in alone, got it, partner?"

Izaya blinked in surprise for a moment, before smiling and nodding. "You got it," He said happily.

Now, they were getting somewhere.

It was two days later they put their plan into action. Izaya had gone home to check on Naoya and Shuuya both nights, they still stayed. Naoya didn't talk to him much, but Shuuya was curious, wanting to know where Izaya was going all day.

"I'm catching the bad guys," Izaya had explained,"Making sure that they can't hurt anyone ever again"

Shuuya was in awe at his words, and then excited. Izaya felt that feeling again, it told him to protect these two forever, even if that meant they stayed here forever.

After those two days, Izaya and Manami found the most reasonable time to go, and got dressed up.

Manami was wearing makeup, and had switched out her glasses for contacts. Her hair was down for once and curled slightly. Her dress was a ocean blue, as well as her gloves that went to her elbows. Around her neck was a feather boa, a white color.

She helped Izaya dress himself, and he found himself not very embarrassed about it at all. He was wearing a fancy red gloves and a red dress which was open on the sides, revealing his feminine legs. She put lipstick on his lips, gave him a nice eyepatch instead of his usual medical one, and fixed his hair to look curly, with a red headband with a bow in his hair. He had a black feather boa, and honestly he looked like a woman, if you didn't know any better you would have fallen for it.

They then went back to the club early, trying to quench the nervousness in their hearts. They had to be very careful, any mistake could lead to their deaths. Their only allies in this club, if they managed to get in, would be each other. They couldn't let their cover be blown.

Some of the men arrived with woman, who sneered at the two of them. But other men ogled at them, not all of them. Manami moved forward first, flirtatiously leaning against one man. "Hello there~," She purred in a flirtatious voice, trailing her finger up and down the man's suit. "What's a big handsome man like you doing all alone?"

"Waiting for a sexy girl like you," He flirted back, wrapping his arm around Manami, who giggled in response and hugged his arm, following him to the front door.

Izaya nervously shuffled in his heels, looking around. He wasn't sure what to do, he was worried he wouldn't be able to flirt without messing it up completely. He needed to do this, but how could he?

"You're awfully nervous," A voice said, and he turned to look quickly. Shyly, in a higher voice than normal, he replied,"W-well, I um.. I've never done something like this before, i-it was her idea and.."

The man in front of him was tall, with choppy black hair to his chin with side bangs that turned white at the end. He wore a long black coat reaching to his knees, black fitting pants, and black dress shoes, with a white dress shirt that had ruffled, layered fabric, and a white cravat. He had a slim build and was very pale, with amethyst eyes that stared into Izaya's soul.

"I see.." He replied emotionlessly to Izaya, tilting his head,"You seem.. Different than the other women who come through here.. You seem weaker, act weaker, but I feel like that is not the case"

He held out one hand, taking Izaya's in his own. "Come with me, I'm safer than most the men here, I have no will to use you," He said in a voice that reminded Izaya of himself when he first woke up from his coma.

They walked into the line, getting closer quickly. "What is your name?" Izaya asked softly, unable to help himself.

"Akutagawa Ryūnosuke," The man replied. Izaya tilted his head confusedly, wasn't that the name of Dazai's cat? Akutagawa looked at him, waiting for a response.

Izaya blushed at the gaze, and said,"I'm.. I'm Ogiwara Izzy, but please just call me Izzy"

They had reached the front, it seemed that the second the guard saw Akutagawa he simply let them in. Inside of the place, it was much bigger than it looked, and seemed more like an elegant ballroom than a club.

He looked around, seeing Manami nearby. She seemed to be gaining a nice audience, they all seemed slightly tipsy. She gave him a look, she had it under control. Akutagawa led him to a fancy area, where they took a seat.

Izaya didn't know what to say at first, staring at the wine glass that was placed in front of him. Akutagawa motioned to the glass, waiting for him to drink. He picked it up, too suspicious to really drink it, so he placed it against his lips, faking. The raven across from Izaya continued to stare at him, his hand over his mouth.

"You are different than the other women here," Akutagawa said again,"You are not trying to take money, you are not trying to gain a reputation. You seem much more intelligent, Izzy. What is your occupation?"

Izaya idly wondered how this man seemed to turn a talk in a club into what felt like a job interview. "I'm a social worker," He lied,"My friend I came with.. She says I've been working too hard and I need to go out for the night with her"

Akutagawa seemed to buy his lie, and nodded calmly. "Working hard? Is your current job difficult?" He asked. Izaya noticed that he hadn't given his own occupation.

"Yes, two children ran away, I was supposed to help find them. But then I checked the parent's records, they've had twenty children who all ran away. Doesn't that seem suspicious? So I've been trying to rescue the kids and get the parents license removed so they can't take in any more children," He said, trying to keep his voice from rising as he felt anger about the subject.

Deciding to test the man in front of him, he firmly said,"They even used fake names too, Aiko and Sanae, what kind of fools do that?"

Akutagawa's finger stopped swirling the wine for a second, but it was enough. He knew something. "Yes.. How tragic," He said, without any emotion in his voice.

His amethyst eyes met Izaya's one red one, and they kept contact for several seconds. Then, Akutagawa hunched forward, coughing violently into his hand. Izaya jumped at the sudden sound, before the man sat back up, breathing hard.

His eyes went back on Izaya, as he kept his hand over his mouth. "Come with me," He suddenly said, and took Izaya's hand. They walked away, and down a hall. Izaya suddenly felt nervous, it was as if those names had sparked something in the man.

They went into a room nearby, which was just as elegant, but something felt wrong. Akutagawa shut the door and then pushed Izaya back, pulling a knife out of his sleeve and placing it against Izaya's chest, and glaring at him.

"You cannot fool me," He replied firmly,"What is your true motive on asking about those two?"

Izaya stared back at him, letting his voice come back to it's normal pitch as he spoke,"So you do know them? That makes this easier then"

Akutagawa's eye twitched, anger breaking through the facade as he realized how much he had been tricked. "You will not live to tell this story, I will remove the threat you pose to me," He said calmly.

He moved forward, as if to slash at Izaya's throat. But the raven was ready. Pulling his boa off quickly, throwing it at Akutagawa. The man dodged, but Izaya stumbled away, reaching into his dress and pulling out his own knife, glad he thought ahead. Akutagawa glared, attempting to slash at Izaya, who caught it with his own knife.

"You are no social worker I've seen," The pale man snarled, slashing at Izaya again who backed away quickly, but did not watch where he was going. He cried out as the back of his knees hit the coffee table, making him fall over and hit his head against the wooden couch.

Akutagawa moved to stab him, but Izaya pushed his feet to the end of the table, pushing it forward to that it hit his knees, knocking the man backwards. Izaya stumbled up, trying to stop the spinning in his head. Akutagawa sat up, tossing his weapon quickly, which embedded itself into Izaya's shoulder. He grunted, but was unaffected other than that.

Akutagawa looked shocked for a moment, but couldn't react in time as Izaya jumped on top of him, panting as he sat on Akutagawa's legs and held his arms down. They stared at each other for a moment, Akutagawa not saying anything.

Not that he could, he found himself too shocked to. Akutagawa was someone who believed wholly in Social Darwinism, he respected strength. He had foolishly thought that this wom- man's plan was one only weaklings tried to pull off. But he fought back, he didn't even flinch with the knife. Akutagawa suddenly felt a newfound respect for this man.

"Aiko and Sanae," Akutagawa explained calmly,"They are in charge of a division of the Yakuza that buys and sells people on the black market. Mostly children. Their real names are Yuno Gasai and Yuno Ryu"

"Why are you telling me this?" Izaya demanded. While he was happy for the information he was wanting to know why this man was so open with this when he was trying to kill him a moment ago.

Akutagawa coughed loudly for a few moments, unable to cover his mouth. "They are more trouble than they are worth, I'm afraid. Too many close calls, including this one. I think you'll find that they aren't very careful. Easy to take down," He continued,"I have a file on them"

"Where?" Izaya demanded, staring at the man with suspicion.

The black haired male beneath him stared still, before he finally said,"I have them on my computer, release me and they'll be sent to you within the end of this night"

"What do you want in return?" Izaya demanded calmly, not about to let himself be tricked. Akutagawa stared for a moment more, they seemed to be doing a lot of that.

Finally, he said,"For you to not come back after you've taken them down. This is the one time I will let you go. And, your real name"

Izaya did not say anything, he just nodded. Getting off the man, he stumbled back and grabbed his boa. He pulled it over the knife wound, hiding it the best he could. He watched Akutagawa carefully as he went towards the door. "Izaya," He calmly said,"That's my first name"

"You know," Akutagawa began,"You would make a good addition to the Yakuza, Izaya-San"

Izaya almost instantly smiled in a sad way. "Sorry," He said simply,"But I'm never going back to a life like that, not after I got shot in the head the first time"

The door was shut, and Akutagawa watched it idly. He felt respect, but something else. He wasn't good with emotions.. But after all this he felt like he was.. Attracted to Izaya. He didn't know, how could he when he'd never felt anything like this before?

The only thing he knew for certain was that, if he was going to understand these feelings, he needed to see Izaya again. He wanted to see Izaya again. No matter what.

True to Akugawa's words, by the end of the night the papers found his way to him, passed to him from some person after he and Manami left. Izaya was thankful that his plan worked, even if it wasn't the way that he expected it to get into his hands.

He went home next morning, changing into only some pants, the white bandages over his wound easy to see. He looked over the files calmly. Yes, this was perfect. It was enough information to get these kids away from them and put these people away for a long time.

As he was gathering the files into one folder, his phone rang. Pulling it to his ear, he answered,"Orihara Izaya speaking"

"We haven't heard anything from you in four days, investigator! Are you looking for the kids or not!?" Aiko- no, Gasai's annoying voice snarled through the speaker.

Izaya sighed angrily; trying desperately to keep his cool. "Madam, you must understand that these children could have gone anywhere. You have me only faces to look for an no indication on where they could and could not be-"

"Excuse me, Orihara-San? Can I ask something?" The tiny voice of Shuuya rang out as he walked in the room, Bread being carried in his arms. Izaya felt his heart seize, why did he have to come in right now?!

"What is that noise? Is that a child, why do you have a child where you are?" The nosy woman questioned.

Izaya held up a finger to tell Shuuya to be quiet, worried that Gasai would be able to figure out who it was. "That's my son," Izaya said simply, hoping she fell for it.

"Son? Aren't you a little young to have children?" She snarled in an annoyed tone. Izaya frowned.

"My personal life is my business, and I am working on your case already. I'm afraid you pestering me is not going to make me find them any faster. So please, let me work, I'll call when I find something," He firmly declared, turning off the phone quickly.

Shuuya looked like he was about to cry when Izaya turned around. "I-I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to- to.. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be bad!" He stuttered out, tears coming down his cheeks.

"Shuuya," Izaya whispered gently, moving over and hugging the child. "It's okay, I just want to keep you safe, okay? Don't be upset, you're an amazing kid. But I need you to remember to knock before coming into a room, okay?"

Shuuya sniffed and nodded, burying his face into Izaya's chest and nodding. Bread whimpered at the scene, lying her head on Shuuya's knee in a form of comfort.

After a few moments, Shuuya looked up at Izaya again. "Y-you're not mad?" He shyly asked. Izaya smiled in return. "Of course not, Shuuya-Kun," He gently replied, his voice soothing.

"And you're not going to hit me?" Shuuya asked worriedly, his eyes red rimmed and puffy. Izaya quelled the anger that threatened to surface towards Gasai and Ryu, and ruffled the boys hair. Izaya shook his head, and then firmly declared,"I would never hit you, Shuuya"

Shuuya looked very relieved, relaxing immensely. Then, a playful smirk came across Izaya's face as he exclaimed,"But I can do this!"

He jumped forward, beginning to tickle the child. Shuuya squealed loudly before he began to giggle, falling over. "N-n-no!" He panted through his laughing. "Bread! S-s-save me!"

The corgi puppy threw herself up, barking loudly as she charged into Izaya's side. Izaya released a fake cry of pain. "Ah! I've been defeated!" He cried. The Raven flopped onto his side, and began to laugh, Shuuya joined in, giggling happily as he reveled in feeling like a child, something he hadn't been able to do yet.

Naoya watched the scene from the doorway, his mismatched eyes filled with an unreadable emotion. He couldn't hate Izaya, not when he was making Shuuya so happy. He saved them from the streets, protected them.

Naoya felt a warm emotion in his chest, like the one he felt back when he had a.. A family. He felt hope, could they possibly.. Would Izaya want to be their family?

He felt that warmth swelling in his chest even more, as a soft smile crawled up his face. Maybe, just maybe he would. Naoya didn't know how to ask, so he could only hope.

Izaya delivered the information to his boss the next day, taking him the copy of the files he made while the originals were at his house. It was all enough to get them behind bars for a long time.

"So are we going to send someone to arrest them?" Izaya asked hopefully. Yukichi nodded, a smile of pride on his face.

He declared,"Yes, and now we can finally destroy one of the most horrible branches of the Yakuza, all thanks to this. Go home and relax that shoulder, you've earned it"

Izaya nodded, bowing politely. He left afterwards, but he felt suspicion crawling up his chest. Not at his boss, but at everything else. It seemed too easy.

He walked outside to his motorcycle, when he got the feeling of being watched. He looked around, pretending to be looking for an item on the ground. Nearby, he saw a white van just creeping around the corner of the building.

Izaya frowned, climbing onto his bike and driving down the street. He drove in circles and a random pattern for a while, hoping to lose his followers. Nothing seemed to be working.

With an angry group, he sped and joined the traffic, heading home as fast as he could. He could only guess who would be following him and why, but he had a sneaking suspicion.

Driving into his house, he leapt off his bike while grabbing the key. He pulled off his helmet and dashed up the stairs, sliding his door open. "Naoya! Shuuya! We have to leave now!" He exclaimed, but there was no response.

Mimi suddenly galloped in the room, whimpering loudly, looking at him, and then running back into the hallway. Izaya followed after her, running into his office.

On the floor was the other copy of the papers, the ones he had left on his desk this morning. They were thrown around the room, but he saw which papers were in the middle of it all. The papers about Naoya and Shuuya. He fell to his knees and picked them up.

 _They thought he was going to take back.._

Izaya felt panic, he threw the papers in rage and then got back up, running out to the front door. Mimi barked loudly, following after him as fast as she could. The car was gone, he could only assume the worst, he had to find them, he had to protect them!

Naoya was running, as fast as he could. But he had Shuuya with him, who was panting weakly as he tried to keep up. "Nao-nii! Please! Why are we leaving!?" He cried out, his little limbs having a hard time with the sudden exercise.

"We have to leave, Shuu!" Naoya said. Shuuya would not just take that for an answer, as he angrily wrenched his hand away.

Naoya turned to face him, rage swelling at his brother's defiance. "But why!?" Shuuya yelled, stomping his foot. "There's no reason!"

"We just have to-" Naoya tried, but Shuuya grabbed at his messy locks, yelling,"NO! Izaya was nice to us! He saved us! He got me medicine, he got us clothes! We could have stayed forever-"

"HE WAS GOING TO GIVE US BACK!" Naoya yelled, ignoring the crack his brother cringed at the loud noise.

Tears began to fall down Shuuya's cheeks as he yelled back,"THAT'S NOT TRUE! Izaya would never do that! He's nice! He saved us!"

"I saw the papers, Shuuya!" Naoya yelled back,"He was going to give us back! Nobody in this world wants to help you, nobody cares! GROW UP!"

Shuuya released another choked sob, before turning and running back the way they came. Naoya suddenly realized what he said, as he yelled,"No! Shuuya! I'm sorry!" He chased after his brother in a panic

He caught up fast, but as both of them reached the corner, a van screeched in front of them and sending dirt into the air. Naoya screamed in terror, recognizing them right away. The faces in the front, Gasai and Ryu. The side opened and two more athletic looking people jumped out.

The two children turned, trying to run, but were grabbed instantly by the men. Shuuya screamed and flailed for help, while Naoya struggled even more violently and bit into the man's arm. "Fucking brat!" The man yelled, throwing Naoya into the back of the truck with rage.

"HELP!" Shuuya screamed loudly,"HELP US IZAYA! HELP US PLEASE!" His cries were cut off was the door was shut, and he was thrown onto the hard metal floor of the van.

"That fucking Detective won't help you anymore," Gasai snarled,"I should have known he was lying, hiding you all along! You thought he'd keep you safe forever, but we caught onto him"

Somewhere in his pain addled mind, Naoya registered the fact that Izaya really hadn't been planning to take them back at all.

"Home?" Ryu asked. But Gasai smacked the back of his head. "No, you idiot! And give that Izaya a chance to find us!? We're going right to the warehouse"

Naoya and Shuuya began to sob, about to accept their fate, when the car suddenly screeched. Lurching them forward. The two children looked up with a gasp, and saw a very familiar motorcycle in front of the van. "Izaya!" Naoya and Shuuya yelled in happiness.

"Shit!" Ryu yelled,"What do we do!?" Gasai went to grab the wheel. "Run him over!" She screeched.

Ryu seemed to freeze up, but then the car lurched again, driving as fast as it could. Izaya sped out of the way, pulling out two switch blades and throwing them into the tires as he passed. They hissed loudly as the air escaped, the car now leaning to one side.

"You bastard!" Ryu yelled, slamming open his door and getting out.

Izaya didn't respond, and it seemed to make the man angrier. "Say something before I beat the fuck out of you!"

"Big talk coming from a man who can only kidnap kids," Izaya snarled back, seeming to only make the man angrier.

"Damn you!" He yelled, running forward. But with his skinny and gangly body, he could only do so much. He threw a punch, Izaya ducked, bringing his own fist up and and punching the man straight in the mouth.

Ryu backed up and groaned, coughing up blood and pieces of teeth. Izaya merely pulled his fist back, shaking his hand out. The man was clearly not built to fight, as Ryu fell to his knees and just clutched his hands over his mouth.

"D-do something!" Gasai exclaimed to the two men, who slid the door open and jumped out. They ran forward and Izaya got off the motorcycle, going to fight. The man was smart, and the three didn't attempt to attack each other for several seconds, and then both of the men lurched forward at the same time. Izaya ducked one, tackling another by the stomach.

They tussled on the ground, and Izaya got on top, attempting to subdue him. The other man ran forward, about to stop the struggle with his knife when a loud snarl was heard. A blur of brown and white galloped forward, leaping at the man with powerful jaws and taking his hand into her mouth.

The man screamed as Mimi kept her grip, tugging on the arm and making the man struggle. Izaya now underneath the man, used his feet to propel him against the side of the car, where he slammed his head.

He stumbled still, shakily going to punch Izaya. Izaya turned, grabbing the man's fist and flipping him over his shoulder. This time the man didn't get up.

The other man had kicked Mimi, making her let go of his bleeding hand. He tried to run but she jumped on his back, biting into his shoulder and shaking it around. The man screamed in pain. "STOP!" He yelled,"Mercy!"

Izaya moved, grabbing handcuffs and taking the man's good hand into it, connecting him to the fence by the sidewalk.

By this time, Izaya heard the clock of a gun. He reached to his side, pulling his own out. Gasai was out of the car, a shaky grip on the gun. Izaya pointed his own at hers, they stared at each other, nobody moving.

"Don't make me sh-shoot!" She declared. Izaya stared silently, before saying,"Let my kids go, come quietly, don't make me do this the hard way"

"Y-your kids!? They're not your kids! I OWN them!" She snarled, taking a step forward.

Izaya seemed to be getting angry. "You do not own them! You are no parent! You are a MONSTER! I'll make sure that you get the justice you deserve and they'll get the happiness they deserve! I will personally tear down your little yakuza branch until the only thing that remains of it is the memory of what happens when you fuck with the ARMED DETECTIVE AGENCY!"

In response, the dog galloped forward, sinking her teeth into the woman's flabby leg. The woman screamed, throwing her gun up in the air and shooting. Izaya ran forward, slamming his bad shoulder into her chest, sending her stumbling backwards with a cry of shock. She slammed her head against the side of the fence, and slumped down. Izaya took a huge breath, yanking the gun from her hand, and tossing it away from anyone's reach.

Shuuya and Naoya, whom had watched the whole thing with their ears plugged, suddenly realized the worst was over. Naoya moved forward, running towards Izaya and hugging him tightly, breaking into sobs. Shuuya was not far behind, hugging Izaya's waist and burying his face into Izaya's stomach.

Izaya felt relief overflow him like a broken dam, wrapping his arms around the two children and rocking them softly. "Shh.. It's okay, it's okay," He promised,"I'm here now, everything is going to be okay. I promise, I'll never let anything happen to you again"

And that was a promise he intended to keep, forever.

The police and Yukichi arrived soon after the battle, arresting the four and taking Izaya and the kids to the hospital. Naoya had a broken arm from the struggle and Shuuya was luckily left with only a minor concussion and some scrapes. Izaya had some bad bruising and bleeding scrapes and his knife wound busted open again, and Mimi was taken to the vet for a check up, but it could have been a lot worse.

Izaya was released the same day, but the children needed to stay for observation, Naoya especially. The two children were resting now, in the hospital beds while Izaya sat in the room, head against the wall. As the doctors had taken away his eyepatch to check for health, both eyes were visible.

Yukichi walked in, observing for a moment, and then turned to look at Izaya. "Do you think you'll be fit enough to take down the warehouse with us?" He questioned with concern.

Izaya nodded, tilting his head. "Did they reveal where it was?" He asked calmly.

Yukichi nodded in return. "It seems that they realize they aren't getting out of this easily, so they may as well lower their jail time by a few life sentences," He joked, though his face remained neutral.

The man then looked at the children. "We're going to need their statements, both of them," He declared.

"Only when they are ready," Izaya firmly stated, eyes filled with a protective glow. Yukichi nodded.

Running a hand through his gray hair, he then said,"After that, they'll be put back into the system"

Izaya's posture instantly tensed. Turning towards his boss, his eyes narrowed. "I think the fuck not," He hissed,"You're not taking them away"

"Izaya," The boss said,"They have nowhere to go, they're runaways. You know that'll always be on their record, they ran from you-"

"Because they were scared!" He snapped, too angry to care he was yelling at his boss. "They ran the first time because it was the safest thing to do, they ran the second time because they saw my papers! They thought I was taking them back, it wasn't their fault!"

Yukichi didn't say anything, so Izaya continued. "You really think sending them to a new place they don't know is going to help! Yukichi-sama I didn't just meet them, I've been keeping them safe in my home for a month! They're used to me! If you take them away from me and put more stress in their lives than they need anymore, I will never forgive you"

"Then what are you suggesting, Izaya? That you adopt them?" He asked calmly. Izaya's eyes grew even more determined, and he nodded.

Yukichi saw that look, it was the look of a man who was willing to do whatever he had to if it meant protecting the people he cared about. Despite being a strong, influential man, he had seen that look many times. He knew what it could hold.

"I'll have the paperwork sent to you tomorrow," Yukichi said,"To apply for adoption. But you must do the rest of the work from there, understand?"

Izaya's look softened, and he nodded happily. "Yes sir, thank you sir," He said happily, returning to the calm and docile man Yukichi knew him best as.

Yukichi returned the gratitude with a small smile, before leaving the room, giving the three some privacy.

"Izaya..?" A tired voice whispered, and the raven in question turned around. It was Naoya, though Shuuya was awake too.

"Yes?" He asked gently, reaching out with his good arm and placing a hand on the metal railing.

"Do you mean it?" Naoya asked hopefully,"Are you.. Are you really going to adopt us?"

In that moment, Izaya saw Naoya's mask melt away. He saw the real Naoya, the young teenager who wanted nothing more than a family to call his own. To feel happy and safe, and Izaya wanted to give all to him. To both of them.

"Yes I am," Izaya declared honestly,"You can stay with me now, I'll be your guardian"

"We don't have to leave?" Shuuya asked hopefully, sitting up in his bed. "Never?"

"Never ever," Izaya repeated strongly. Shuuya smiled, before tilting his head. "Never ever ever?"

Izaya grinned again. "Never ever ever," He repeated even stronger.

Shuuya smiled back this time, and nodded, tears threatening to fall. "Thank you," He said happily, lying back down,

Izaya looked at Naoya, who seemed unsure how to react. "Naoya, are you okay?" He asked worriedly.

"I just, I don't know how to react.. I haven't had something like this.. In such a long time," He admitted Softly.

Izaya hummed in understanding. "Well, how about this?" He said, leaning forward. "Is there something you've been wanting to do, have wanted to do so bad since all this happened, but never got a chance to? Whatever it is, we'll all do it together as a family"

Naoya stared at nothing for a few minutes, but then an idea popped into his head. Yes, he did have an idea. He knew exactly what he wanted to do.

March 20th

Spring Equinox

It had been three months since the incident, and everything was finally settling down. Izaya had officially been able to adopt the children after two months of being evaluated and checked out, he was officially the parent and guardian of Naoya and Shuuya, both of whom took his last name.

Naoya and Shuuya revealed the thing they'd been desiring the most in the world, and Izaya instantly agreed, which was why they were where they were now, in the Chūbu region. Walking through the blooming cherry blossom trees, holding some bags of things.

At the bottom of the steps, there were gravestones. The three moved towards a certain area of gravestones. There were others there as well, but nobody really bothered each other. Izaya took a broom from the small building below, sweeping the area around 3 certain graves. Naoya and Shuuya began placing flowers on the three graves happily, before gaining Izaya's help in polishing them

This is what they had always wanted, to be able to visit the graves of their parents. Naoya looked down at the red apples he had in his hand, and began placing them on the graves. "Mom always loved red apples," He said softly,"We had a tree at our house, we'd pick them all the time" 

Izaya nodded to his words. The three of them were dressed traditionally in yukatas, by Shuuya's request, since every picture he had seen of his mother was her wearing a kimono or yukata of some kind.

Once everything was set up, the candles and incense had been lit, Izaya was about to move away and give the kids their privacy. However, Naoya shyly moved over, grabbing his and Shuuya's sleeves and pulling him to his parent's graves. He closed his eyes, taking a breath.

"Hey mom, dad," Naoya began,"I'm sorry I never came and visited you, I never was able to. I just.. I want you guys to know that I really miss you. I haven't had the chance to see you, to tell you what's been going on. I don't wanna talk about it much, but I do want you to know that I realize you would want me to find another home, another family. So.."

Taking another breath, he pointed to Shuuya. "This is my little brother, Shuuya," He then turned and looked up. "And this is my dad, Izaya"

Izaya's heart skipped a beat, before a smile crossed his face, but he did not say anything, he would not ruin this moment. Naoya smiled back, before turning back to the grave. "So I wanted to tell you that, and promise that I'll be visiting a lot more," He said happily.

Naoya finished, and looked up at Izaya. "I'm sorry for taking so long to say it, dad, I just wanted it to be special," He admitted, and Izaya nodded in understanding, ruffling his hair.

Shuuya suddenly jumped excitedly,"Nao-nii! Let me introduce you to my mommy!" Naoya smiled, being pulled away from Izaya easily by the excited child. The raven watched them with a melancholy smile. Looking at the grave, he bowed to pay his respects, before softly saying,"I'll take good care of him, I promise."

As if to respond, a gentle breeze of wind flowed through the area, cherry blossom petals floating into the sky. Izaya smiled once more, as Shuuya called,"Daaaaad! You have to come here too! Mommy wants to meet you!"

"Okay, I'm coming," Izaya happily called, joining his sons where they were waiting for him. They spent the rest of the day together, as the children enjoyed what they had missed for so long, and Izaya enjoyed being with them. They were a happy family, and they wouldn't have it any other day.

The raid of the warehouse that Gasai and Ryu ran was very easy to do with the information they got. Many of the workers in there were so untrained that the second they broke in they panicked and dropped their guns. Nothing really interesting happened, until the end.

Izaya was walking through the halls, checking for anything they missed. That's when he found a door, and blinked curiously, opening it slowly. Inside the room, there was a woman with long brown hair hanging in her face, her black dress was torn, bare feet, and a shredded black cap.

Izaya gasped, moving behind her and finding her hands chained. He circled, tapping her cheek gently. "Hello? Can you hear me?" He asked worriedly,"Ma'am, please, if you can hear me say something"

Her face scrunched up, and she groaned, turning her face to the side. "Mmm.. Dota-chin? Is that you?" She asked. Izaya didn't know who that was, but the woman was talking.

"No, I'm a detective, I'm here to rescue you," Izaya said back,"Do you know where the keys are?"

"Key.. Boss Key.. Big Key.. It's um.. Behind you.." She slurred, and Izaya turned. There was the key, just out of the girl's reach. He grabbed it, turning and unlocking the chains. She instantly fell forward, He caught her in his arms, before shifting her into a position so he could piggyback her out.

The girl seemed to realize she was being saved, and hugged her arms around his neck. "What's your name?" He asked gently,"So we can contact someone" 

"Erika Karisawa," She softly said, as they walked through the front of the warehouse. Dazai saw him coming and nodded, going out to inform the ambulance of another victim. He took her to the gurney, about to leave when she grabbed his hand. "N-no, stay.." 

Izaya looked towards Dazai, who was staring at him lovingly. When Izaya caught him, he jumped and then nodded. "Go ahead, I'll tell Manami and Kine," He said calmly, a blush crawling up his cheeks as he ran away.

Izaya went with the ambulance to the hospital, glad he rode with Manami instead of taking his motorcycle. Erika got taken in to be given surgery, as the paramedics already found she had a broken leg and left arm. He waited there, watching her go, before three very disheveled looking men came into the hospital as fast as they could a few hours later. Strange.. Why did they seem familiar to him?

The one with a beanie interrogated the nurse at the front, who told him that Erika was not out of surgery and they would have to 'wait with the detective over there'. They stared at him for a moment, before going over to him.

"You're the one that saved her?" The man in the beanie asked. Izaya nodded, calmly. Pulling out his badge.

The three looked at it, obviously looking for a name. "Ah, I apologize, in the middle of an investigation like this one, people on the case aren't allowed to give out their real names. Call me Izzy, I'm an Associate Special Class investigator," He explained.

They seemed to understand, and Izaya then pulled out a notebook. "Do you guys have any ideas on what happened to her?" He asked.

The man with the beanie softly said,"Um.. We think it might have been the Blue Squares that gave her to them, but we aren't sure. We're just happy to have her back"

"I understand, don't worry, any information is helpful!" Izaya replied happily, putting away his notebook as the doctor came out.

The blonde one instantly asked,"How is she doing?" The doctor looked down at his clipboard, happy to reply,"She's doing just fine. She's pretty injured, but it's mostly bruises and the two broken limbs. She needs to stay a few days to recover, but she's mostly fine. You can go visit her if you want"

The four men stood up, following the doctor and going into the room. The second they walked in, the blonde one sighed in relief and whispered,"Erika!" He moved forward quickly, hugging her tightly.

"Walker.." Erika responded happily, hugging him with the one arm not in a cast. "It's okay, I'm safe now"

Walker continued to hug her, while the other two moved over, their postures relaxed. "Dota-chin! Saburo!" Erika exclaimed happily. Izaya watched them with a smile, glad to see they're all reunited.

He turned to leave, when Erika saw, and exclaimed,"Wait a minute!" Izaya stopped, turning back around. "You saved me, how can I ever pay you back?" Erika honestly asked.

Izaya merely smiled. "There's no need to, it's my job to help," He said simply, before sighing. "Though I would enjoy if you made sure to stay out of trouble from now on"

Erika giggled and then replied,"I like you! We should stay in touch!" Izaya blinked in surprise, before tilting his head. "Um.. I mean, if you really want to?"

Izaya and Erika exchanged numbers, and Erika managed to find his instagram, the only social media sight he had since Naoya decided he needed one.

"Well, I have to go soon, schools are about to get out and I still have a statement to write," Izaya told her softly, waving to them as he left the room. "Bye bye!"

Kadota watched the man go, wondering what it was about him that was making that feeling chew through him. The man seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He just looked so much like-

"Aww! Dota-chin! Look at his photos, he's so cute!" Erika squealed, unable to help herself as she stalked his pictures. No bragging or stupid photos were found on them, it was literally almost only pictures of dogs. Four dogs to be exact. Sometimes he was in the pictures, in some random location with them, others were of them in a traditional looking house. Other images included a baking montage, or pictures of him and two children hanging out at restaurant, at a park (with the dogs of course), just a happy family.

"Whoa, he looks a little young to have kids that old," Saburo said calmly. Walker shrugged in reply, and asked,"Maybe he adopted them?" 

Erika let out a small squeak. "Aww! SO cute! It's like Usagi-Drop or Amaama to Inazuma!" She squealed happily.

Kadota chuckled, letting those thoughts of suspicion float away. This man, Izzy or whatever his real name was, was too kind to be who he thought he may be. He was a happy and innocent, nothing like him. Kadota let those thoughts vanquish away, deciding he had no need to think about it anymore. He saved Erika, and there was no way he could be him anyway. After all, Kadota saw him die, how could it be him?

It just wasn't possible

When he walked out of the hospital, someone was waiting for him, someone Izaya didn't expect to see again.

Turning the corner, he bumped into someone's chest. "Ah! I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was-" He looked up and gasped at the amethyst eyes.

"Akutagawa!?" He exclaimed, and the man nodded.

Akutagawa took Izaya's arm and said,"I wanted to see you again"

"But I thought we agreed to not-" Izaya began, only for Akutagawa to cover his mouth with his hand.

"Only at that club," He said,"Besides, I needed to see you again. I wanted to spend time with you"

Izaya tilted his head. "Oh.. Okay.." He awkwardly agreed. Akutagawa nodded, continuing to walk without releasing Izaya's hand.

"We're getting ice cream," He said, taking Izaya to a stand, and ordering his own. Unsure of what else he could do, Izaya ordered his own chocolate ice cream, while Akutagawa got vanilla.

They sat on a bench nearby, Akutagawa still clinging to Izaya's hand like a lifeline. Izaya looked at him nervously, eating his own. "Umm.. Why are we doing this?" He asked awkwardly.

"Isn't this what people normally do on a date?" Akutagawa questioned, causing Izaya to sputter in surprise.

Looking at Akutagawa, he stuttered,"A d-date? Why would we be on a date?"

Akutagawa looked at him so innocently as he said,"Because I love you"

"What?!" Izaya asked,"But we've only met once before-"

Akutagawa shook his head, and declared,"That does not matter. I saw your strength and bravery, it was very attractive, I respect and love you for it. You also don't look very attractive in a dress"

Izaya's eyes widened, and a blush crawled across his face. He quickly licked at his ice cream again, trying to avoid conversation. Akutagawa watched him, as his face started to heat up. He looked away, coughing for a moment.

"What else are we going to do?" Izaya asked curiously. Akutagawa pulled his face up, looking confused.

"What do you mean? Is there more to do on a date?" He asked calmly.

"Have you never been on a date?" Izaya asked, and Akutagawa shook his head. "Well how did you know about taking me out for ice cream as a date?"

Akutagawa shyly looked down and then said,"I googled it" Izaya giggled slightly, making Akutagawa frown. "What?" He said angrily,"What am I missing?"

"You can't just ask someone on a date and not talk to them, that's not how you get someone to fall far you," He explained,"You need to get to know them and understand each other, that way you know what you love about them and why you care for them"

"And if we do that, then you'll become my boyfriend?" Akutagawa asked, making Izaya blush even more.

"I um.. Maybe. Depends how I feel about you afterwards," Izaya responded calmly.

Akutagawa went silent for a moment, he said nothing, but then looked at Izaya. "What are some things you like?" He questioned.

"Hm.. I like my job, I like nature," Izaya calmly said,"I like taking care of my kids.. Ooh! And I really like dogs"

"Dogs?" Akutagawa said thoughtfully, and looked at Izaya. He then grabbed Izaya's hand, standing up and throwing away their empty cones, and then taking them down the street.

He led Izaya into a shelter, and pushed him in. "Here, pick a dog, I'll buy you it," He said calmly.

"What?!" Izaya exclaimed,"Akutagawa, I can't do that! You can't buy me a dog!"

"Why not? You like them," Akutagawa questioned,"And I like you, and want you to like me"

"But.. I don't know how I'll be able to repay you, I owe you for giving me the information three months ago and for this too?" Izaya asked worriedly.

Akutagawa placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you accept this gift from me, then you won't owe me for that information," He said simply,"Pick the one you want, I'll buy it for you, okay?"

Izaya decided that he probably wouldn't get out of this, though he would eventually try and find a way to pay him back. The people at the shelter almost instantly recognized him. "Izaya! Good to see you, here to pick up dog food?" They asked.

Izaya giggled, and said,"I just might have to, I'm here I'm getting a new dog"

The woman behind the counter giggled. "Another? Aren't you drowning in dogs already? You may have to start your own rescue home soon!" She teased, making Izaya chuckle and shrug. Maybe she would have to.

Akutagawa suddenly seemed protective of him, maybe he had gotten jealous, because he took Izaya's hand and led him towards the dogs quickly.

They were many puppies and dogs, barking and running around. None seemed to catch Izaya's eye, until they were near the end. It was a white german shepard, who was curled in the corner, seeming uncaring of anything around him.

"Aww.." Izaya said softly, feeling sadness for the dog. He reached out for the paper, pulling it up to his face to read it.

The dog had no real name, he was brought to the shelter after being locked in a tiny cage since he was a puppy. He was seven years old now, and not the strongest dog. They were trying to get him to feel better; but he was just so upset, wouldn't eat, wouldn't move. Nobody wanted to adopt an old dog so nobody wanted him.

Izaya knelt down, clicking his tongue to try and gain the dog's attention. Akutagawa seemed indifferent, and kind of angered by Izaya's choice.

The dog looked up at him slightly, before lowering his head and laying back down. Izaya frowned slightly, and clicked his tongue again. "Here boy," He said in a gentle voice,"It's Okay, I'd just like to meet you buddy"

The dog slowly inched over, sniffing Izaya gently before nudging his nose against the fence. Izaya gently smiled at the dog, releasing gentle cooing noises as he scratched the dog's nose the best he could.

"Can I get to know him better?" Izaya asked the worker who followed them, who nodded. They grabbed a leash and went to wrap it around the dog's neck gently. The German Shepard looked confused while they walked, as if not understanding why he was finally being chosen.

Akutagawa seemed just as confused, but followed him into a room anyways. Inside the room, the dog grew more hopeful. He circled Izaya, whom then knelt down and rubbed the dog's head. The neglected animal instantly leaned into the soft touch, wagging his tail happily.

The dog got more excited, crouching low and barking loudly. Izaya chuckled, crouching to meet him, and ruffling his head playfully. The dog barked again, leaping up and knocking Izaya to the ground. Izaya laughed, hugging the dog as he licked Izaya all over his face.

Akutagawa stared silently, his heart warming at the sight of Izaya being happy and the sound of his laughter. But he was still confused. "I.. Do not understand," He awkwardly said,"Why would you choose an old dog that will die sooner? Why wouldn't you choose a younger one that will be more useful?"

The dog looked at Akutagawa as Izaya did, who sat up and frowned a bit. "You know, Akutagawa, everyone deserves a chance to live and be happy. He's been through so much neglect already, he deserves a chance to have a home," Izaya explained.

"But he's weak," Akutagawa said with a frown, eyeing the dog's easily visible ribs. "Not because he wants to be, Akutagawa," Izaya chastised in return.

Akutagawa tilted his head much like a dog. "But then how will he serve you?" He questioned again.

"That's not what dogs do, Akutagawa. They're man's best friend, we care as much about them as they do for us, they're not an item or a weapon, they're a companion, they love you and you love them back," He explained gently.

He then stood up, taking Akutagawa's hands and leading him to the dog. Akutagawa nervously tried to back up, but Izaya kept moving and placing Akutagawa's hand against the dog's head. The dog stayed still, seeming to understand what Izaya was doing.

Akutagawa slowly pet the dog, trying to understand what Izaya was telling him. The dog moved forward, nuzzling against the male and making him freeze in surprise. Suddenly, a warm feeling filled his chest, the same feeling he got with Izaya. He smiled a bit, and began to scratch the dog behind his ears. The dog got more excited as Akutagawa continued to pet him, and the man softly said,"Good boy, you're a good dog!"

Izaya smiled, and then tilted his head softly. "You know, I think you're a dog person," He said calmly. Akutagawa stopped petting the dog for a moment, looking up at Izaya with thoughtfully. "Yeah.." He said softly,"I guess I am.."

By the time they left the pet store, Akutagawa was now the owner of a black Kai Ken, who was affectionately named Rashoumon, while Izaya named his new dog named Chance. They left together, and Izaya was explaining some things to the other man. "And if you ever need to ask about anything regarding dogs, call me okay?" He asked, handing Akutagawa his phone back.

"You're giving me your number?" Akutagawa asked,"Does that mean we're dating now?" Izaya blushed bright red, before turning away quickly. "Um.. Maybe we should go out a few more times before we say something like that.."

Akutagawa nodded calmly and said,"Okay, we'll do that soon" They walked down the street for a bit, until Akutagawa stopped by his own car. Turning to Izaya he softly said,"Thank you, for today I mean"

"Thank _you,_ Akutagawa," Izaya returned, then shyly looked down. "I um.. I had fun.."

Then, Akutagawa took his free hand and lifted Izaya's cheek, they stared into each other's eyes for a long moment. Then Akutagawa leaned in, taking Izaya's lips in a gentle kiss, to which the other kissed back.

Akutagawa pulled away after a bit, a blush coating his cheeks. "I'll see you soon," He promised, moving quickly to the car as Rashoumon jumped in with him.

Izaya watched them go, once again bringing a hand to his lips with a blush. What was he doing!? Dazai and Kanade, now he was adding Akutagawa!? Not that he meant to of course, but he didn't know what to do anymore.

Looking at his phone, he cried out in surprise as he realized the time. He was going to be late to pick up Naoya and Shuuya. "C'mon Chance!" He called, quickly running off. He would worry about it later, right now he had a surprise for the kids.

3 Months Later

"Whoa! It's so pretty!" Shuuya exclaimed excitedly, staring at the ocean in surprise. Today was Shuuya's birthday, and the thing he had wanted more than anything in the world was to go to the beach with his family. So they drove out there, and now they were there together. Shuuya was wearing his brand new purple swim trunks with penguins on them, Naoya had on black ones with green stripes, and Izaya's hair was in a braid while wearing a simple pair of purple trunks. The dogs were with them, all with their collars on and bandanas.

Izaya smiled happily, and said,"Yeah, it is isn't it?" He unleashed the dogs, who all galloped to the water, barking excitedly. Shuuya giggled excitedly, running after Bread and the Saint Bernard, Mocha, who were already biting at waves that came by.

Naoya was calmer, waking to the shore and beginning to search for seashells. Izaya smiled, following him and kneeling down to help.

"You know, I heard that if you find a conch shell and put your ear to it, then you can hear the ocean," Naoya said excitedly, looking around curiously. The brunette tended to get excited about small things, things that he'd never been able to enjoy with his upbringing. Izaya didn't mind, he encouraged Naoya's happiness and curiosity. The boy was shy, but this was helping him get out of his shell.

"Oh?" Izaya asked,"I've never been to the beach before, I guess we'll just have to find one, huh?"

As if answering his words, the waves splashed forward, and then pulled away, revealing a beautiful conch shell. Naoya let out an excited noise, grabbing it and putting his ear to it. "They were right! Dad, you _can_ hear the ocean!" He exclaimed loudly.

Pushing the conch against his father's ear, Izaya listened closely. "You're right!" Izaya returned happily. Naoya pulled it away, running to Shuuya, who was following a hermit crab curiously. Shuuya listened too, and was jumping up and down excitedly.

The day continued great, just a good relaxing day for all of them. The dogs got soaked, but they had fun. Shuuya and Naoya took one of their towels to collect shells, filling it to the point it was too heavy for them to carry.

They stopped a bit to eat, and Shuuya was excitedly chattering. "The ocean and is so awesome, dad, swimming is too!" He exclaimed,"I wanna be able to swim a lot!"

"You know, if you want I can sign you up for swimming lessons or classes," Izaya suggested, and Shuuya gasped loudly, nodding and exclaiming,"Yes! Yes! Please!"

It was late at night when they headed home, the kids exhausted but proud and happy from the day. The dogs all slumped on the trunk together. Izaya carried them both inside the house, tucking them in before making sure the dogs and the seashells got inside.

Izaya didn't mind not remembering anymore, not when he'd already made so many memories. The world around him was perfect, he was happy, and there was nothing that he wanted to change.

But things couldn't stay that way forever

Izaya's perspective changed one day, when at work, as they were bringing in a criminal. He had not been on the assignment, but he was at work that day, researching his own assignment. Kunikida and Dazai were leading a criminal through the hall when he walked out, and waved. "Dazai-san, good work," He said gently.

Dazai blushed slightly, and nodded. "Thanks Izaya," He shyly, but the criminal's dark eyes widened. He stopped, and whispered the ravens name. In the distraction, he yelled, yanking himself from a surprised Kunikida's grasp and tackled Izaya onto the hardwood floor, sending papers flying into the air.

Izaya was taken by surprise, but recovered quickly. He placed his hands on the man's shoulders and pushed him back, Kunikida pulling from the back. They slammed the man against the wall, while Dazai ran over to Izaya. "Are you okay?!" He asked worriedly, as Izaya was grabbing the back of his head. Izaya nodded.

The man was struggling violently, and yelled,"You bastard, you absolute fucking bastard! I'll kill you, I swear it! It's all your fault you monster!"

Standing up, Izaya tilted his head. "Eh?" He asked, one red eye filled with confusion. The man was angrily struggling, but Kunikida made sure to pull him away from the wall and towards the interrogation room. Dazai had knelt down and picked up Izaya's papers, handing them to him.

"Maybe you should come to the interrogation room with us," Dazai gently suggested, and Izaya nodded. They followed after Kunikida slowly, Izaya rubbing the back of his head as they did.

In the room, the man was handcuffed to a table, and glared darkly at Izaya. The three men sat down after the door was shut, and Izaya decided to ask his questions first so that he could leave and they could continue prosecuting.

"How do you know me?" Izaya questioned, and the man barked out a laugh. He seemed to think Izaya was joking, but when the raven didn't smirk in return, he stopped. "You don't remember?" He questioned in confusion, Izaya shook his head, and the man asked,"You don't remember anything?"

Izaya shook his head again, and the man laughed out loud again. Leaning forward, the man smirked. "You," He began,"Are the most evil, psycho, monstrous bastard of a person I ever knew! You ruined lives, you ruined everyones, even mine! No one loved you, everyone hated you, everyone wanted you to die! You hurt everyone you met! If only you died that day, you monster!"

The raven felt his heart constrict with guilt. Maybe he wouldn't believe him if he hadn't already heard a few things from Kine and Manami, and what he deduced when he first woke up.

Nodding calmly at his two companions, he walked out of the room, hiding his guilt. He hugged himself, and went back to his office. People noticed, but they didn't dare say anything. It was near the end of his shift that Dazai told Manami what happened.

Izaya wasn't foolish, he knew Dazai would. He was sitting in front of the building on a bench, frowning at the ground. Manami came over and sat next to him silently. Kine on the other side.

"Manami-chan, is what that man said true?" Izaya asked softly,"Was I.. Was I really that horrible of a person?"

Instead of saying yes or no, Kine responded,"You.. Weren't a good person. You were an informant broker that sold information to gangs in Ikebukuro, but you also would cause chaos and send false betrayals through gangs. You sent the city into a huge chaos, you'd talk girls into committing suicide, you were always behind everything, and you enjoyed it all"

Izaya had turned to stare at Kine as he spoke, before looking back down. "Oh.." He whispered,"So I really was a monster.. No wonder I got shot.."

"But," Manami said, taking his shaking hand in hers,"That's not you anymore, Izzy. You're a good person, you're an associate special class investigator, you've saved hundreds of lives, you adopted kids, you took down a whole branch of the fucking Yakuza for god's sake! I promise you, you've become a much better person, you were given a second chance and used it well. I'm proud of you, Izzy, we both are. Don't be sad, you've changed, you're much better than you used to be before"

Manami smiled at him, and Izaya smiled back, sighing and slumping back again. For several moments, nobody said anything. Izaya had closed his eye, but then he opened them again. "Kine, Manami," Izaya began, making the two look at him.

"I'm going back," He said firmly, and they froze. Kine turned to him. "Going back? Going back where?" He asked, his heart squeezing with fear. Izaya looked back at him, standing up and moving in front of them, his eyes were determined.

"I'm going back," He declared again,"I'm going back to Ikebukuro"


	8. Chapter 8

Among the tall skyscrapers and long, winding roads of Ikebukuro, a lone black motorcycle sped through the city. Her yellow helmet shone under the sunlight, and if one were to look close they would see a trail of smoke flowing out of the cracks. She sped down the freeway silently, and couldn't stop the thoughts from flowing into her metaphorical head.

 _Ikebukuro really hasn't changed._

After Shizuo and Izaya's final fight, and the ravens death, life had gone back to normal. Celty returned to her transport job, Shinra recovered, and everyone else went back to their normal (if you could call them that) lives.

Sometimes, however, the Dullahan would think about how all that chaos finally came to an end and wonder; could there have been a way to prevent the deaths that occurred? Could thing have gone differently at all? Or were they doomed to bloodshed from the beginning?

Celty sighed again, shaking her head to try and rid herself of those thoughts. _It's been years since that occurred. You can't change what's in the past. I need to stop thinking about it and focus on the present, and right now I have to get home._

Just as her hand went to rev the engine, she heard a sound that was all too familiar. A siren. Her whole body went cold, and she turned to look behind her. It was Kinnosuke; speeding towards her with that chancy grin glowing on his face.

Celty's whole body exploded with panic and adrenaline, and she quickly flew down the road as fast as she could, leaving a trail of smoke flying from her wheels. The sirens seemed to grow louder as the chase began, her slim motorcycle desperately weaving through the lines of cars as his more bulky one followed her.

Celty's mind raced for an escape route, noticing an freeway exit nearby. Instantly, she swerved around the cars, and down the exit. As she turned down the blind corner, however, she saw the slight hue of blue and red made her gasp, and come to a screeching halt. She skidded for several feet, suddenly she was surrounded by almost a dozen of the traffic cops, who revved their own engines threateningly.

Her hands squeezed the handlebars tightly, completely frozen in fear. Even if the gunshots wouldn't kill her, getting shot that many times might incapacitate her. She knew that she could use her powers, but her whole body was frozen. Celty tried to move, drive away, but nothing happened.

 _Oh God… I can't… They're going to-_

Before either side could move, there was the screeching of tires, and a figure on a motorcycle slowed to a stop in front of her. The traffic cops tensed up, and Kinnosuke's eyes narrowed in anger. "Oi! Get out of the way before I arrest you too!" He snapped.

The black clad figure didn't move, and instead they pulled off their helmet. Although Celty couldn't see their face, she saw long black hair flow down her savior's back. When the figure had lowered the helmet, they spoke. "I will not get out of the way just for you to attack her for no reason!"

Despite the fear and confusion still boiling through her blood, Celty was a bit surprised. I thought he was a girl…

"You will move, because I am going to arrest her," Kinnosuke smugly declared.

"For what?" Her savior questioned.

Kinnosuke froze, a frown coming across his face. Then, he snapped,"Because she is a menace!"

"How?" The long haired man questioned again.

The traffic cop sputtered again, and declared,"She's broken many laws, and I have the full right to bring her to custody-"

"Do you have any evidence of her doing this? She was obeying the laws and following the rules of the road perfectly fine, and then you just chased her into a corner with no explanation. That is completely unacceptable."

Kinnosuke's hesitated, at a loss of how to explain himself. The sight of him stumped filled the Dullahan with glee. The cop's frown deepened. "I am not going to explain myself to a civilian. Get out of my way _NOW_ , or you'll be arrested too!"

The raven simply declared,"I am not a civilian, I am an officer for the ADA."

Celty watched him pull out what looked like a small wallet, showing it to Kinnosuke. The Dullahan was rather confused. _ADA? What's that?_ But the officers around them started to look surprised, and nervous towards the young man. _It must be important…_

After seeing the badge, Kinnosuke looked a lot less sure of what he was doing. The young man continued,"If you are unable to provide evidence, which it seems like you can't, I'll be happy to explain that you were chasing innocent civilians and threatening them."

Kinnosuke completely deflated, and muttered something under his breath. "Fine.." He declared louder,"I'll leave. But don't think this is the last you've seen of me, Black Biker."

The traffic cops sped away, leaving Celty in complete shock. Nobody had ever helped her against Kinnosuke before, and nobody had ever managed to make him go away! It was something that had never occured before, and she felt nothing but utter admiration for her savior.

The raven waited until the traffic cops were completely out of sight before turning to her. He had one red eye, the other covered by an eyepatch, and a gentle smile on his face. "Are you alright, Ma'am?" He asked.

Celty slowly nodded, unsure of what to do or say. She wanted to hug him but also thank him over and over. Before she could do either, however, the screeching of tires brought her back to reality.

She whipped her head around, seeing two more motorcycles come to a complete stop. One person yanked their helmet off while the other slowly did so, and instantly began to yell. "What the hell were you thinking running off like that?!" The girl yelled,"Do you have idea where you're even…"

Her voice trailed off, eyes widening at the sight of Celty. The Dullahan instantly recognized the two motorists in front of her.

 **[Kine? Manami? I haven't seen you guys in years!** ] She exclaimed. **[How have you two been?]**

Manami looked rather nervous, scratching the side of her cheek. "Um… We've been well.. Just working out of town.." She managed to explain.

The long haired man then looked curious. "Oh? You all know each other?" He asked, red eye filled with interest.

"When we lived her, yes," Kine calmly replied,"Although, not very well. We were more like acquaintances."

The raven then smiled. "Well any friend of Kine-senpai's is a friend of mine!" He exclaimed cheerfully. "My name is I-"

"IZZY!" Manami quickly interjected,"H-his name is Izzy!"

Kine sent the woman a confused, suspicious look, but Izzy gave an innocent smile. "Well, that _is_ what everyone calls me." He agreed.

Celty nodded, quickly typing out another quick message. **[It's really nice to meet you, Izzy!]** She said happily. The one eyed officer's smile grew wider, and the Dullahan suddenly felt a despire. She couldn't just head home and leave her savior. She had to return the favor somehow!

Just as the raven looked towards the other two, Celty quickly grabbed his shoulder, holding her PDA in front of his face. **[Listen, you have no clue how much what you did means to me. Can I return the favor?]**

Izzy read it over, and said,"You really don't have to, I was just doing my job. It's okay." But Celty shook her head quickly.

 **[No. I need to do this, I owe you my life.]** She replied. **[I know a really nice sushi restaurant in the city called Russian Sushi, can I treat you and your friends just this once?]**

"Hell yes!" Manami butt in, before turning to the raven. "Izzy! You've _got_ to try it! It's so good!"

Kine let out a noise of agreement. "It is quite delicious, I ate there more than I would like to admit when I lived here. I know for a fact you would enjoy it too, Izzy." He explained.

Celty nodded quickly, desperate to do something in return for her savior. Izzy looked at the three, and then gave a gentle nod. "Sounds like a good idea, I am pretty hungry. Let's do it!" He declared.

Manami grinned, but Kine's arm on her shoulder made it vanish. "You two go ahead, I need to talk with Manami for a moment. We'll meet you there." He stated.

Izzy seemed like he wanted to argue with the bald man, but he sent a look towards the younger that said 'I'm your senpai and I'll do what I want.' That stopped the raven from delving deeper.

He and Celty sped off together, and Kine quickly turned Manami to face him. "Why did you do that?" He demanded. Manami's chocolate brown eyes widened innocently.

"Do what?" She tried to ask.

"Why did you say his name was Izzy?" Kine asked, his voice taking a much more firm tone. Manami tried to pull away from his grasp,and Kine wasn't having any of it. His steel gaze bore into her, waiting for an answer.

Manami soon realized that she wasn't getting away that easily, and lowered her shoulders with a large sigh. "I know that we came here to help him figure out his past…" She began,"But I… I don't want him to remember."

It was only thanks to her profession that the woman was able to catch Kine's eyes widening the slightest bit. She quickly held her hands up, and frantically said,"I know that sounds selfish-"

"Manami, it's his memory, it's _his_ life-"

"But what if we lose him?!" Manami demanded,"What if… What if Izzy remembers, and then Izaya comes back?"

Kine's grey eyes narrowed dangerously. "You can't have any way of knowing that's what will happen," He snapped.

"I don't want to chance it, Kine!" She snapped right back,"I don't want to hate him again! I don't want to lose him!"

The man growled, tugging on his tie. Although he wanted to be angry, he knew that the woman had a point. I know that isn't true, Izzy is too different to just switch back into that hateful monster he once was..

"Please, Kine," Manami implored,"Celty didn't recognize him, maybe the others won't either. If we can just hide who he really is long enough-"

Kine swiped a hand through the air. "No," He demanded,"If you really care about Izzy you'll have faith in him. I'll let you get away with that, and I won't push him towards any of the old things he did, but I refuse to let either of us interfere with things he discovers on his own. Understood?"

Manami lowered her eyes to the ground.

" _Understood?_ " Kine demanded louder

"Yes, Kine-senpai," Manami whispered softly.

The bald man nodded, and said,"Good. Now let's head to Russia Sushi, Izaya will be worried if we're gone too long."

The two detectives sped back down the road again, but neither could hide the worry now building up in the back of their minds.

* * *

"Try sushi!"

"Sushi good!"

Izaya looked at the scenery around him, desperately trying to search for anything he may remember. There was a strange feeling of nostalgia in the voice that was growing progressively louder. His red eye turned to look towards the source, and saw a large man waving around papers.

A feeling of fondness filled Izaya, and he instantly knew that he had to have been here before. He wanted to start digging right away, but he didn't want to be rude to Celty. The woman was being so kind, and he didn't want to just ditch her the second something seemed vaguely familiar.

Besides, it's just a sushi restaurant. I doubt there's anything extremely important about me that might be hidden in there. The raven rationalized.

Celty led him up to the large man, who instantly turned towards them with an excited noise. "Celty! Come for Sushi?" He asked hopefully, before turning to look at the raven. "Oh? Sushi friend?"

Izaya stared at the large man, his gears turning as an overwhelming feeling of deja vu hit him. Celty didn't notice, too busy typing out a message on her phone, and holding it up to the Russian man.

 **[Simon, this is Detective Izzy. He just saved me from the traffic cops, so I'm treating him to some sushi to celebrate.]** Celty explained, and Simon's eyes widened.

"Izzy?" Simon said curiously, looking over at the long haired man. "Kadota told me about a Detective Izzy, saved Erika."

Now, Izaya recognized that name. "Oh! Erika Karisawa?" He asked curiously,"Yes I remember her! I'm glad she's doing well!"

 **[Wait a minute..]** Celty interjected. _**[You're**_ **the one that saved Erika?!]**

"You know her too?" Izaya replied.

 **[She's a close friend! I was so worried when she was missing! I can't believe you're the same person that saved her! You have no idea how thankful we all were!]** Celty exclaimed.

A blush fell over the raven's face, and he stuttered out,"W-well… It wasn't just me, my partners and the other detectives helped too and-"

He was suddenly caught off guard as the large man pulled him into a tight hug. "Such a big brave soul! Kind soul! Such big soul needs sushi to be full," He declared,"Come, come. We fill you with sushi!"

Izaya chuckled, allowing the large man to lead him into the restaurant. "Okay, Okay, I'm coming!" He exclaimed.

* * *

Once they were in the restaurant, the man led them into a booth that already had a group in it. Izaya wasn't bothered, though, because he recognized the four instantly.

Erika was the first to notice. She turned her head just out of instinct, but then saw the familiar detective. "Izzy! You're in Ikebukuro!" She exclaimed, waving her hand excitedly.

Kabuto and Saburo smiled, and then scooted back to make room for the two newcomers. Izaya thanked them, and made sure to get comfortable before saying,"It's good to see you're doing well, Erika-chan. What a coincidence we're both her at the same time!"

The beanie clad man snorted. "It's not a coincidence, we just spend way too much money here…" He grumbled, glaring towards the more excited members of the group.

Erika, knowledgeable of her guilt, simply ignored him. Kadota rolled his eyes, before turning back to the raven. "So, why are you in Ikebukuro? Is it related to a case of some kind?" He questioned, hoping the extent of his curiosity didn't sneak through.

"A secret undercover mission?" Walker suggested.

"No, no!" Erika exclaimed,"A murder mystery!"

The raven let out a soft giggle, and shook his head. "No, no, it's none of those things. I'm actually… Here for me." He slowly explained.

At the curious looks he gained, Izaya decided that it couldn't hurt to explain a little bit. "Well… You see, several years ago I woke up in a hospital with no memory of my past. All I knew was that I had been shot in the head, and that led to it. Earlier this month, I found out that Ikebukuro was where I used to live. So, since my kids are at a summer training for the next week, I'm going to try and find some answers," He explained.

Celty placed her hand over her heart. **[Shot in the head?! How horrible! Why would someone hurt someone as kind as you?!]** She demanded.

Izaya grew a nervous blush, and began scratching at his cheek. Erika grew a thoughtful look on her face, chewing on her chopsticks. Then, she gasped, and slammed her hands down, causing everyone to jump in surprise.

"I got it!" She exclaimed, pointing towards the raven. "You helped us all so much, so now we're going to help you!"

Kadota raised his eyebrows. "You know… That isn't a bad idea at all!" He replied,"After all, you did save Erika."

 **[And me!]** Celty said. **[Plus, Ikebukuro is a daunting city, it would be very hard to look on your own.]**

Izaya's red eye widened. He had been in Ikebukuro less than an hour and already had friends, and they were willing to help him! A smile exploded on his face. "Thank you guys so much," He whispered happily.

It was in that moment that Izaya could tell for sure that the next week in Ikebukuro was going to be a special one.


End file.
